Mar 13 2008

U.S. could lose out on clean energy: GE CEO

General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt didn't mince words at the Wall Street Journal green economics conference on Wednesday, saying the U.S. could lose ground to other countries if the federal government and big business don't get behind clean renewable energy.

A Reuters story says Immelt took on critics of federal tax credits for renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines, saying GE would move more business overseas if it's not wanted in the U.S. GE's "green" products include solar lighting, a hybrid locomotive, wind turbines, and water purification systems.

Immelt also said GE is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership because it wants to have a role in shaping environmental legislation rather than have it "pushed down my throat," the story said.

In February, a story in BusinessWeek, however, noted that GE and two other Climate Action Partnership (USCAP) members -- Caterpillar and Alcoa -- also were on the board of the Center for Energy & Economic Development, an organization that opposes regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.

Of note, PG&E Corporation is a founding member of the USCAP.  In addition to corporations, the group is made up of some of the world's most respected environmental groups, including the NRDC, Environmental Defense, National Wildlife Federation, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

PG&E and all of the companies mentioned in the Businessweek story all agreed to a set of principles agreed upon by all of the USCAP members.  The principles are meant to serve as a call to action for federal policy makers to address climate change.  Within this framework, USCAP has been extremely effective as evinced by the several bills recently introduced to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

In terms of policy implementation, yes, there are many competing agendas reflected in the multi-sector composition of USCAP's members as well as the many other business that are not a part of USCAP. 

What's clear, though, is that by participating in USCAP, these companies and environmental organizations are committed to regulatory action that will help reduce the potentially disastrous effects of climate change.  This formation of this group and its commitment marks a significant milestone in the formulation of US climate change policy.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

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Energy , Environment , Legislation , Partners , Solar , Wind

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  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
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  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
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  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
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