I can't make any sense of the comments below, they all appear to say the same thing! It is good that not everybody is billing us (USGov) for their research, in hte end we all pay for it anyway, as companies pass along their costs to the customers anyway.
Are you trying to say they are setting us up to not need the power grid? We have a smart meter in the diagram, if we have net-zero then why is it connected to the power grid at all?
NEW YORK — General Electric is “doubling down” its efforts to accomplish its goal of transforming every home into net-zero energy by 2015, an executive said yesterday.
Speaking at the 9th annual Jefferies Global Clean Technology Conference in New York, GE vice president of Ecomagination Steve Fludder said the company sees tremendous growth in the green space, and aims to capitalize on that trend by investing in it.
“Green products that come at a cost was not a wise business strategy,” Fludder said. “Green is [now] green.”
Fludder highlighted the company’s “Eco 1.0″ initiative, noting that it made $5 billion in cleantech products, such as 1.5 mW of wind power (12,000 units), 400 GE90-115B turbine engines and 3,000 Evolution locomotives.
GE is both conducting core research and development as well as partnering with firms through its venture capital arm, Fludder said. To date, $200 million has been invested in 20 companies for “deep partnerships” for smart grid, renewable energy, clean water, building efficiency and carbon management technologies.
This year, the company will kick off version 2.0 of its Eco program and “double” its efforts in the space.
Those goals include, among others:
- Double R&D investment to $10 billion
- Grow Eco-derived revenues at twice the rate of the rest of the company
- Improve energy efficiency by 50 percent
But it’s not just about walking the talk — it’s also about a growing green business. What’s at stake: competition, jobs and energy independence, Fludder said.
To accomplish this, GE plans to transform the power infrastructure such as the smart grid, improve energy efficiency in trains, planes and homes (the company invested $100 million in batteries), and maximize existing resources, whether oil, gas, biofuels or water.
This is all possible within a decade using existing technology, Fludder said.
“This can be done,” Fludder said. “This is not a dream that requires miracle innovations.”
