General Electric Ecomagination Program
In recent years, natural gas and petroleum prices have spiked in the United States, sometimes rising 100% over 2000 levels. Over the same period, average electricity prices have climbed by 12%. For General Electric (GE), this resulted in steadily increasing energy costs at most of its major facilities. With prices expected to continue rising, in 2004 GE imposed an energy cost reduction requirement on its business units.
After looking into several options to reduce costs, projects that replaced existing lighting with high-efficiency lighting seemed like a feasible option, especially because the lighting incorporated bulb and ballast products made by GE. The lighting projects were also a good fit with GE’s “ecomagination” campaign to promote cleaner technologies. GE has made several commitments in order to prove not only that there were markets for clean technologies but also that the company could reduce its own impacts while profiting from these markets. With its ecomagination commitments and high energy costs, GE asked its corporate managers to find cost-effective ways to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions.
The Lighting Projects
The retrofit projects gained considerable momentum after the launch of ecomagination. GE discovered that approximately two-thirds of its industrial business facilities were not using GE’s lighting technology and that nearly all were equipped with relatively inefficient lighting fixtures.
The company surveyed its facilities
