Green Options » general electric

Biggest Wind Farm in World — in Texas

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:15:42 +0000

European energy giant E.ON “turned on” what is reported to be the largest wind farm in the world this week, in Texas.

The farm contains 627 wind turbines on almost 100,000 acres of land near Roscoe, Texas.

GE Ecomagines the Net Zero All-Electric Home

Tina Casey — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:34:52 +0000

More than fifty years after the electrical industry launched the “Medallion Homes” campaign to push U.S. homeowners into an all-electric future, General Electric is taking it to the next level. The appliance giant has announced that by 2015 it will have developed a complete all-electric net zero home appliance management system that includes enough solar and and wind capacity to take a home off the grid, and even generate enough power to sell back to the local utility.

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Greenfreeze Could Spell the Deep Freeze for Global Warming Refrigerators

Tina Casey — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants are a “natural” cooler widely used in domestic and commercial refrigerators all over the world, except in the U.S. and Canada. HC refrigerants produce less greenhouse gasses than hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) technology, but they aren’t approved for the U.S. market - yet. Now Greenfreeze, the Greenpeace-developed HC refrigerant, is poised to enter the U.S. thanks to a boost from an unlikely pair of companies, Ben & Jerry and General Electric. It’s not a moment too soon: a new study has fingered HFC refrigerants and other so-called F-gasses as a rapidly growing source of emissions responsible for global warming.

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A Smart Meter for Your Green Future

Fred Etcheverry — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:43:12 +0000

The old electromechanical electric utility meter changed little in principle over the last hundred years. In the next coming decades the smart meter will progress as much over this meter as the PC has over the typewriter. It will utilize a microcontroller as sophisticated as any PC. It will have its own web page that can be part of your home page and your social network. It can evolve to best serve the most efficient use of renewable energy.

The present meters are also called “Thomson” meters after the supposed inventor Elihu Thomson the first CEO of General Electric (after restructuring of Edison General Electric). Thomson’s meter was like a clock with a torsion pendulum. Instead of a spring, the force between two magnets governed the speed of the pendulum.

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GE Digital: Smarter Than Ever When It Comes to Clean Energy Distribution

Reenita Malhotra — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:42:48 +0000

GE’s MDS Mercury 3650 installation on a utility pole

Earlier this week, General Electric (GE), announced a huge step in towards transforming the electric grid in Houston, Texas — one of the largest grids in the United States.

GE will work with CenterPoint Energy to implement a smart grid system called Advanced Metering System (AMS) that is designed to provide Houston-based consumers with the ability to better monitor and manage electric use and cost in near real-time.

GE is no newcomer to the energy space. Along with Westinghouse, it is one of the oldest ‘movers and shakers’ when it comes to the development and distribution of energy to the consumer, working with development and distribution companies all around the world.

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Who Wins with Passage of Economic Stimulus? Google, of Course

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:00:15 +0000

After congressional leaders reached compromise on a 789 billion dollar economic stimulus package that includes investment for smart grid and broadband infrastructure, there were lots of smiling faces around Mountain View, Cali., the headquarters of Google Inc.

President Obama’s stated desire to invest in smart grid and broadband infrastructures syncs quite nicely with Google’s obvious desire to improve the nation’s broadband infrastructure but it also will benefit the company’s recent incursion into smart metering.

While the specifics of Wednesday’s compromise have yet to be released, the Senate version of the stimulus slated $7 billion for broadband and $20 billion for smart grid investment, with final figures likely to be smaller. [update: CNET reports that smart grid investment was pared down in the final package to $11 billion]

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Super Bowl Commercials Get Smart (Grids)

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 01:05:38 +0000

GE Launches Smart Grid Ad Campaign During Super Bowl

Part of President Obama’s proposed economic stimulus plan includes investing in smart grid infrastructure. So, what better horse to hitch your trailer to right now if you’re a big American company looking to launch your new smart grid advertising campaign?

Oh, and it also helps if you own the network.

General Electric saw this golden opportunity and for the first time advertised during the Super Bowl with a 30-second ad called “Scarecrow.” GE describes the ad as a modern take on the classic song, “If I Only Had A Brain,” from The Wizard of Oz, imagining what can happen when the old technologies that manage our energy use have a brain and become smarter.

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GE Ends Development of Incandescent Bulbs, Focuses on LEDs

Jerry James Stone — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:55:33 +0000

According to Clean Break, General Electric has dumped all plans for revitalizing their century-old incandescent lightbulb. Instead, it plans to focus on light-emitting diodes (LED) and its organic counterpart — the OLED.

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Rolls-Royce Designing Energy-Efficient Propeller Engine

Ariel Schwartz — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:34:33 +0000

Propeller planes aren’t exactly known as the pinnacle of aircraft luxury, but a new propeller engine currently being designed by Rolls-Royce makes up in efficiency what it lacks in comfort. The company claims that the engine could save an airline three million dollars and 10,000 tons of CO2 per year if it is introduced on 100-200 seater planes.

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Plan To Build The World’s First Zero-Waste, Zero-Carbon City Gets Financial Backing

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:04:50 +0000

General Electric and Mubadala Development have just announced a multi-billion dollar partnership that will give a huge financial boost to a plan to develop a clean-energy walled city in the United Arab Emirates. Masdar City, scheduled for completion in 2015, will get all of its energy from sustainable sources, and will create zero net greenhouse gas emissions. It will also be completely car-free.

As part of its partnership with Mubadala, GE will fund a giant research center in the heart of the city that will house a think tank of technologists working to develop sustainable energy and water technologies. The company will also commit up to $50 million to Masdar’s cleantech investment fund.

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