NOT-SO-ECOMAGINATION

GE: How Clean (and Not-So-Clean) Tech Drives Ecomagination
Keith Johnson, May 27, 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

"…General Electric is still touting the potential for “green” products to save the day.GE said the 80 product lines in its “ecomagination” line tallied $17 billion in sales last year, a 21% jump over 2007 even as most of the conglomerate’s other divisions treaded water or went backwards. GE is aiming for $25 billion in sales in the unit this year…

"How to explain the success of “ecomagination”? Aside from the growing appeal for everything from wind turbines to efficient locomotives, there are two other reasons. The products GE has certified as part of the “ecomagination” group include plenty of things that at first blush don’t sound very green, and the definition gets broader every year."

The part of the brain where GE thinks up its advertising campaigns? (click to enlarge)

[GE’s definition ofEcomagination:] “…Products that significantly and measurably improve customers’ operating performance or value proposition and environmental performance or services that substantially enable such improvements.”

"…[T]he Jenbacher coal mine gas engine, part of “ecomagination” …turn[s] a potential liability—gas inside coal mines—…into heat and power, in addition to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. There are clear “green” benefits—but all in the name, as GE says, of “making coal mining cleaner.”

Eco-initiative or marketing initiative? (click to enlarge)

"…Three years ago, none of GE’s reactors were part of the “ecomagination” energy lineup; today both “Advanced Boiling Water Reactors” and “Economic Simplified Boiler Water Reactors” are part of the mix…Three years ago, GE had just two oil-industry products in “ecomagination”; today there are six, including devices that help oil refineries deal with heavier grades of crude oil with fewer environmental side-effects.

"Outside of energy, GE is bringing other star divisions into “ecomagination” too—such as healthcare. In 2008, for the first time, GE added four healthcare devices, from X-rays to ultrasounds, to its “ecomagination” lineup…GE has made no bones about its hopes that the world’s appetite for clean stuff will help drive sales and profits at the struggling conglomerate. It’s good to remember that “green” is as expansive a term as the government policies underwriting much of that growth."