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Ecomagination Solutions

Ecomagination products and solutions are at work building, powering, moving and curing the
world. Not just imagining. Doing.

Ecomagination is GEs growth strategy to enhance resource


productivity and reduce environmental impact at a global scale
through commercial solutions for our customers and through our own
operations. As a part of this strategy, we are investing in cleaner
technology and business innovation, developing solutions to enable
economic growth while avoiding emissions and reducing water
consumption, committing to reduce the environmental impact in our
own operations, and developing strategic partnerships to solve some
of the toughest environmental challenges at scale to create a cleaner,
faster, smarter tomorrow.

GE's ecomagination Challenge


Abstract
This GE ecomagination Challenge case study takes place in 2010 when Beth Comstock,
chief marketing officer and senior vice president of General Electric, was planning a
meeting with GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt. The pair plan to discuss the company's
ecomagination Challenge, an open innovation process that solicited energy ideas from
individuals and startups to identify potential ventures in green and renewable energy areas
for GE to invest in. By 2011, the ecomagination Challenge had resulted in $140 million (out
of its allocated $200 million) of investments in 23 ventures. However, the scale of these
results was dwarfed by GE's $37 billion energy business. So the time has come for

Comstock to evaluate the results of the ecomagination Challenge more carefully and decide
on whether and how to continue this kind of activity within GE's energy business, or in other
GE businesses. How should GE measure ecomagination's results in order to justify its
existence and possible future investments? What new processes and structures would be
required to make sure that some of the Challenge's investments would pay off for GE down
the road? Based on the program's results to date, was the program a good investment for
GE and something GE should repeat, or was it a noble experiment that should be
discontinued?

http://cmr.ucpress.edu/content/54/3/140.fulltext.pdf+html

The greening of GE [alternative


energy]
General Electric (GE) Co., is now focused on alternative energy resources as it has
begun manufacturing wind turbines and photovoltaics, invested in hydrogen fuel
cells, and become a leader in the development of gasification equipment that could
double the efficiency of coal-fired power plants and even capture their greenhouse
gases. The company launched the ecomagination initiative, described as a growth
strategy driven by the belief that applying technology to solving problems is good
business. By focusing on wind, solar energy, and advanced coal technologies, GE
plans to become a major force for environmental innovation.

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?
arnumber=1460346&abstractAccess=no&userTy
pe=inst

Ecomagination Strategy
Overview
At GE, we believe in progress in taking risks to improve our technology and build a
brighter future for our customers and the world around us. Since the launch of
Ecomagination in 2005, we have seen that it is possible to develop solutions that offer our
customers the capability to enhance resource productivity, reduce environmental impact,
and improve business performance.
In 10 years, we have made incredible progress. What began as a $700 million annual
investment in cleaner R&D has matured into a cumulative $15 billion of investment in
cleaner research & development. By the end of 2014, that investment has yielded $200
billion in revenue from Ecomagination solutions growing at 4x overall industrial GE,
double its target of 2x growth in 2005. The deployment of these solutions at global scale
have driven significant outcomes for our customers and their communities across sectors as
diverse as Power Generation, Energy
Management,Water, Transportation and Healthcare industries. At the same time,
more sustainable practices in our own operations have cut GHG emissions by 32%, energy
intensity by 31%, and freshwater consumption by 45%, saving the company $350M.

Today, we believe that the need for resource productivity is more urgent than ever before,
and that Ecomagination technology is the bridge to solve the toughest environmental and
resources challenges in a faster, cleaner and smarter way. In a world characterized by

increasing change, it will be critical to focus efforts in several key areas to accelerate
towards our common future.
Market & Customer Focus
Since the launch of Ecomagination ten years ago, hydraulic fracturing triggered a
natural gas production boom and alleviated regional resource constraints spurring
billions in economic growth, more renewable energy generation capacity was installed
in the U.S. than all other generation combined and signaled that renewable energy is
mainstream in major markets today, and severe droughts have emerged as an early
sign of growing global water scarcity and impacted local economies and ecosystems.
In the background of these events, the longer-term trends persist. By 2025, the
worlds population is expected to increase by one billion and the middle class is
expected to double, increasing the demand for energy; at the same time almost 2B
people are expected to live in water stressed areas. 1
Deep engagement across the ecosystem - customers, policymakers, academics and
more - and other key players will be key to uncovering new ways to think and act to
drive big breakthroughs and accelerate change across the economy.
Innovation
Technologies such as Wind Turbines, water treatment technologies such as Zeeweed,
our Evolution series locomotive and our advanced jet engines such the GEnx, serve
as a rich foundation to Ecomaginations portfolio of solutions and have helped drive
both growth for the company as well as more efficient and productive operations for
customers.
Looking ahead, Ecomagination is focused on innovation in six key areas: 1) the
development of new natural gas ecosystems for the oil and gas, power generation,
and transportation industries; 2) the deployment of next generation renewables that
are both lower cost and better integrated into larger power networks; 3) increased
efficiency and alternative fuels for global transportation networks; 4) improved
industrial and commercial water reuse and productivity; 5) increased resource
productivity through the deployment of smart machine-to-machine software and
analytics; and 6) more optimal, integrated systems at the home, building, and
municipal levels.
Localization with Global Scale

There is no silver bullet in our shared journey towards a lower carbon and water
intensive future. GE has 7 global research centers and as well as a number of
additional Customer Innovation Centers across the globe and has continues to invest
locally to foster robust talent ecosystems. This focus on localization combined with the
global network of GE will help us to transfer innovation and scale these types of
innovation in a way that can drive massive efficiency and environmental outcomes
globally.
In some of our most recent efforts, developing new gas strategies in China could
greatly mitigate pollution & carbon challenges, and new systems piloted to capture and
deploy flare gas in North Dakota, US is now expanding that could have big global
impacts.
Partnerships
The next industrial era connected and smart, more distributed and powered by
cleaner and less water-intensive fuels is happening now. This transformation is only
possible with disruptive innovation at radical scale both within industry and crossindustry.
In 2015 GE is inventing a new industrial era, and we are committing to extending and
expanding the Ecomagination strategy to 2020. As a part of this effort, we are investing an
additional $10B in R&D in cleaner technologies and business models for our customers,
and committing to reduce our own GHG emissions and freshwater use by an additional 20
percent compared to our 2011 baseline, both by 2020. In addition, we are expanding the
focus of Ecomagination beyond individual technologies to working with industry partners to
develop and scale global solutions to some of the worlds toughest challenges such as how
to maximize renewable energy integrated into the electric grid; how to extract energy from
waste water and reduce water wasted in energy; how to improve the environmental
performance of the natural gas economy; and how to build an industrial internet that
maximizes resource productivity.

http://www.ge.com/aboutus/ecomagination/strategy

Company Information
GE imagines things others dont, builds things others cant and delivers outcomes that make
the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other
company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing
the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world.

Leadership
http://www.ge.com/about-us/leadership/jeffimmelt
PLC
GEs technical resource for product life cycle evaluation is the
Ecoassessment Center of Excellence (COE). For more than
seven years, the COE has been applying expertise in life
cycle management (LCM) and life cycle assessment (LCA).
LCM is a systematic approach to managing product-related environmental
impacts throughout a products life cycle. Our goals are to identify the most
promising opportunities for improvement; create and maintain momentum
toward real change; and incentivize game-changing products, technologies and
solutions.
LCA is a quantitative method to determine what is green. It generates results to
help understand environmental impacts across the life cycle of a product;
identify the most impactful materials, processes and activities; design new
products/processes with reduced impacts; evaluate trade-offs; consider burden
shifts; and communicate life cycle environmental benefits.

The Ecoassessment COE provides internal consulting and education, engages


with external partners, and develops tools to improve the resource efficiency
and shared value of our products and services. Our analyses help our GE
business teams understand the competitive advantages of new technologies
and provide our customers with the insight they need to make fully informed
purchasing decisions.
The team also develops application-specific tools and data sets, and recently
worked with Quantis International on the development of a proprietary custom
Water-Energy LCA tool that explores region-specific trade-offs between energy
and water impacts. In addition to leveraging this new tool within our advanced
environmental analysis projects, our product teams can use it to understand
environmental impacts associated with water and energy production or
consumption related to select GE products in various geographic regions. These
insights, combined with other customer-decision metrics, should help GE and its
customers identify the products and technologies that will optimize value with
minimal environmental impact for a given region.
Over the past several years, LCA has been applied to a variety of GE products
and processes, including gas and steam turbines, aircraft engine components,
wind turbines, medical equipment, lighting, additive manufacturing, single-use
process technology for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, +PLUSPAK vials for
contrast media, thin film solar, aeroderivative gas engines, Jenbacher gas
engines, micro LNG, smart meters, membrane ultrafiltration systems for water
treatment, Durathon energy storage systems, appliances and appliances
recycling, locomotives, biomass gasification, advanced metallurgy, jet fuel from
bio-oils and component re-manufacturing. These efforts ranged from internally
focused screening LCA studies to full detailed LCA studies subjected to thirdparty critical panel review per ISO 14044.

Highlighted Life-Cycle Studies:


+PLUSPAK Polymer Bottles

GE Healthcares innovative +PLUSPAK polymer bottle is used to hold contrast


media for diagnostic procedures such as X-rays and MRIs. +PLUSPAK offers
significant advantages over traditional glass packaging, including decreased
cost of waste disposal, reduced storage and improved workplace safety and
efficiency for healthcare workers who administer contrast media to patients. The

+PLUSPAK polymer bottle achieves these benefits through its patented design
and pharmaceutical-grade polypropylene composition, which result in smaller,
lighter and safer packaging than glass. A detailed cradle-to-grave LCA
study1 comparing the +PLUSPAK polymer bottle with glass bottles found that
using polymer rather than glass bottles lowers environmental impact of contrast
media packaging:

+PLUSPAK results in significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions (46%


vs. glass)
+PLUSPAK requires significantly less energy (55% vs. glass)
+PLUSPAK has less impact on ecosystem quality (39%) and resources
(59%) compared with glass, and fewer impacts in all other categories studied
(ranging from 24%43% compared with glass)
The insights gained from this study are helping our customers make informed
packaging choices when purchasing GE contrast media. +PLUSPAK bottles
significantly reduce impacts on the environment, and, as a result, GE has
proactively switched a majority of its shipments of contrast media to this
environmentally preferable packaging. With more than 100 million units of
+PLUSPAK shipped globally, GE is helping to reduce its impact on the
environment. +PLUSPAK also provides customers with:

Workplace safety enhancements, by reducing the risk of sharps injuries

Workplace efficiency enhancements, by providing label features that help


streamline departmental processes

Environmental benefits, by using fully recyclable, environmentally


conscious packaging that requires less space to store
Operating benefits, by reducing annual waste-disposal costs by
approximately 78%2
GE Healthcares WAVE Bioreactorused for vaccine and other
biotherapeutics productionenables cell culturing without requiring cleaning or
steam-sterilization because it uses disposable bags rather than large stainless
steel tanks, reducing staff time requirements. A detailed LCA study 3,4 helped
determine how the disposable option reduces water and energy consumption
compared with the option of the stainless steel bioreactor it replaces. Although
single-use bags introduce new needs in the production, distribution and disposal
phases, this approach also reduces or eliminates large quantities of steam,

sanitizing chemicals, process water and ultra-pure water needed for washing
and sterilization of traditional processing equipment. The insights gained
through this detailed LCA study are helping our customers evaluate and
optimize their biotherapeutics process technologies with an eye toward
increased productivity and reduced net environmental impact.

http://www.gesustainability.com/building-thingsthat-matter/resource-productivity/product-lifecycle/
General Electric
Ecomagination as a CSR Initiative
General Electric (G.E.) has a rich history of being in the center of public discourse regarding the
intersection of corporate strategy and environmental concerns. During Jeffrey Immelts tenure as Chief
Executive Officer, G.E. has taken a proactive approach to coupling corporate social responsibility with
organizational profitability in its Ecomagination initiatives. Critics abound with some investor groups
questioning the utility of Immelts approach for shareholder returns while other stakeholder groups
question G.E.s motives and methods. This case study reviews G.E.s past CSR efforts and the more
recent Ecomagination program and its efficacy and sustainability. The case was developed from public
sources.

AND PIC IN DISCKTOP


https://www.pdcnet.org/pdc/bvdb.nsf/purchase?
openform&fp=jbee&id=jbee_2011_0008_0001_02
45_0254

Abstract:
This case is about US-based diversified
conglomerate General Electric Company
(GE) and its environmental initiative
Ecomagination that was launched in mid2005. Through this initiative, the company
invested liberally in renewable energy and

cleaner technologies.
It also promoted energy-efficient
Ecomagination products through its
marketing campaigns. Besides, the
company set targets for reducing its
greenhouse gas emissions and for
increasing the energy efficiency of its
operations. Industry observers noted that
the strategy had been successful for GE as
it was able to make good money.
GE, which had set a target of investing US$ 5 billion in Ecomagination research and
development (R&D) by 2010, surpassed the goal on June 24, 2009, one year ahead of
schedule. The company was also on its way to achieving the US$20 billion mark in revenues as
it had already generated US$18 billion in revenues from Ecomagination products in 2009.
Some analysts lauded GE's Ecomagination strategy saying that the company was addressing
global issues such as climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy conservation,
while at the same time making money. However, its critics felt that Ecomagination was a
business savvy move to resurrect GE's image as an environmentally friendly company. They felt
that the initiative was over-hyped and that GE was pursing profits in the name of clean
technologies. Some even called it greenwashing. However, GE continued its commitment to
Ecomagination and expected Ecomagination revenue to grow at twice the rate of total company
revenue by 2015. This would give Ecomagination an even larger share of total company sales.
Issues:
Understand how GE employed CSR as a strategy with its Ecomagination initiative.
Understand the importance of sustainability (especially environmental sustainability), and the
role that renewable energy and clean technologies could play in this regard.
Understand the role leading players such as GE can play in addressing global issues such as
climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and energy conservation and also benefit in the
process.
Analyze the Ecomagination strategy of GE

Understand the reasons for the criticism faced by GE for its Ecomagination initiative and
discuss and debate whether this was an attempt by the company to indulge in greenwashing
http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Strategy/BSTR387.htm

Ecomagination Challenge
"Improve the way we create, connect, use!"

About the Challenge


The GE Ecomagination Challenge is a $200 million innovation experiment where
businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students share their best ideas on how
to build the next-generation power grid and just might get funded.
They have teamed up with some capital firms, including Emerald Technology
Ventures, Foundation Capital, KPCB and Rockport Capital, to help back the most
promising ideas.
Anyone can enter the challenge, submit ideas and vote for the most promising
teams. a
There are three categories for submission:

Challenge 1: Create - Renewable Energy

Renewable energy holds extraordinary potential for helping us create the energy to
meet our growing needs. But many forms of renewable energy are highly variable
in their output. This is where a more intelligent grid comes in, integrating and
managing renewable energy sources.
GE is developing technologies that protect the quality of power, compensating for
voltage fluctuations and managing output intermittency. They want to provide
utilities with better information about energy production, transmission, consumption
and energy system health to help them protect equipment and ensure safe, reliable
power.
Making the best use of the energy created by renewable resources is critical to a
reliable supply of affordable energy. What kinds of technologies or processes do you
think will maximize the penetration of renewables into the grid?

Challenge 2: Connect - Grid Efficiency

The U.S. should have the most efficient grid in the world. But we dont. Our grid
wastes energy at every point during every day. The solution is to connect advanced
power generation to a more intelligent and more efficient grid -- that then connects
with consumers.
GE is looking at different grid technologies that help lower delivery losses and those
that anticipate and monitor demand. Reducing losses frees up grid capacity,
reduces the need for infrastructure capital expenditure, and protects consumers
from steep rate increases. Reducing voltage eliminates the over-delivery of energy,
so customers are not paying for unused energy.
In terms of technology, processes and policy, what do you think are the best means
to help us realize greater gains in grid efficiency and outage management?

Challenge 3: Use - EcoHomes/EcoBuildings

Energy consumption is growing so quickly that its creating an imbalance between


demand and supply. This mismatch short-circuits power production and distribution,
leading to higher energy costs for consumers and businesses. We need to change
how, and when, we use energy.

GE is looking at many promising technologies to help power companies and their


customers share information and manage their energy use better.
GE is already working on a wide range of promising technologies, including smart
meters and appliances that let consumers appliances talk to their power utility;
wireless AMI; home area networks; renewable integration tools; demand response
systems; home energy use monitoring; time-of-use pricing; plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle integration; and neighborhood micro grids.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

What kind of company is GE?


General Electric Company (GE) is a diversified infrastructure and financial
services company. The products and services of the Company range from
aircraft engines, power generation, oil and gas production equipment, and
household appliances to medical imaging, business and consumer financing
and industrial products.

How much is General Electric Company Worth?


IBM had previously won a fourth rank on the list but Google's jump pushed the
tech company to fifth position with net worth $47.9 billion. General Electric and
McDonald's did not change in ranks from last year but GE grew from a $34.2
billion worth company to $37.1 billion.

https://prezi.com/-j3yihwywoo4/copy-of-ge-casepresentation/
GE Analysis
a) Political
As a multinational company, General Electric has to deal with political systems of different
nations. In spite of some of the countries presenting favorable environment for business

survival and growth, others present difficult conditions. Tax systems and regulations also
differ across countries and so does the level of government intervention in business activity.
For example, in United States, the Internal Revenue Authority requires companies to submit
tax returns annually on April 15 (Dibb & Lyndon, 2004). Government intervention is minimal
and the business environment is much favorable. Political stability can also be said to be
reasonable so that business survival is highly probable. These conditions may not apply in
other countries such as China and Singapore where government control over businesses is
high.
b) Economic
Fluctuations in interest rates, exchange rates and money value greatly affect activities and
operations of General Electric. Factors such as deflation and inflation as well as
government spending in different countries in which General Electric has ventured often
influence business productivity and profitability. The economic impacts caused by the
current economic crisis are being felt all over the world. General Electric has recorded
decreased sales mostly due to lower lending rates by banks. In addition to that, prices of
inputs have also risen considerably.
c) Social-Cultural
Norms, culture, religion and social set-ups often determine how a business should conduct
itself in a particular country or environment. In the different countries which General Electric
has ventured into, the company is faced by different social-cultural challenges which
influence its corporate culture to a very large extent. The culture in a particular country
determines the working hours, employment policies, procedures for appointing managers
and the type of goods to be produced. Similar to other multinational companies, General
Electric has to contend with such issues and deal with them effectively.
d) Technological
Technology in the modern world is advancing at an enormous pace. Innovative products are
always being introduced using more advanced technology each day. Older technology is
therefore getting outdated at a very high rate across all sectors in the economy. Aimed at
outdoing competitors, many companies have turned to innovation, research and
development which have brought about improved levels of technology. The rate of
technology advancement globally varies with each country that General Electric has
invested in as they vary in terms of resources available. Among the countries with the

highest rate of technology advancement are United States and Japan which General
Electric has ventured into (General Electric, 2009).
Conclusion
As a result of multinational companies having to deal with different sets of political,
economic, social-cultural and technological aspects, designing a PEST analysis exclusive to
General Electric was almost impractical. It is however notable that there are some factors
that are universal among countries. Technology constitutes one of these factors and a
closer look at the PEST analysis reveals that technology is advancing at a very high pace
globally. Multinational companies like General Electric must therefore be on the lookout to
ensure that their technology is up-to-date when new forms are introduced in the market.
Some economic factors such as global crises which lead to increase in interest rates and
decrease in bank lending capacity are also universal. Conducting a PEST analysis aids a
company in understanding the business environment better so as to facilitate the better
planning and resource allocation to maintain high productivity and profitability.

http://hubpages.com/business/PEST-Analysis-ofGeneral-Electric-Company
http://www.swot-pestporter.com/modules/info/index.php?
content_id=43

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