All the Right Moves – GE Quickly Looking Like it Will Do Best of All in Coming Carbon-Constrained World
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
General Electric Co. is getting serious about dominating the carbon-constrained economy that will soon be here. Serious – and smart.
In the past two weeks GE has made two announcements that together position the company to be one of – if not the – biggest winners in two of the potentially most far-reaching new energy technologies – plug-in hybrid vehicles and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting.
While EnergyTechStocks.com reports on all of the new energy technologies that are being developed in response to dwindling fossil fuel supplies and rising public concern about pollution and global warming, regular readers know that plug-in hybrids and LED lighting rank at the top in terms of what EnergyTechStocks.com sees as new energy tech’s world-changing potential. Simply put, plug-ins are a way for the world to get off oil and eliminate tailpipe emissions at the same time. LEDs are the most cost-effective way to reduce the amount of electricity needed for lighting, which eats up a third of all U.S. power generation. With LEDs in every home, office and factory, the need for dozens of power plants (many running on air-polluting coal) can be eliminated.
Two weeks ago GE announced that it had invested $20 million in A123 Systems, a private Massachusetts-based firm developing lithium-ion batteries for plug-in hybrids. At the same time, GE announced it had invested $4 million in a company called Think, a Norwegian firm making plug-in cars. GE further announced the opening of its own research center to develop batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.
Of all the lithium-ion battery developers – and globally there are at least a dozen whose work may wind up in Toyotas, Chevys, Nissans and other marques – none at present have a better technical reputation than A123. In making these related announcements, GE Energy Financial Services’ managing director Kevin Walsh said, “Our work with A123 and Think taps GE’s unique combination of venture capital, engineering, process and commercial expertise to help burgeoning, next-generation technologies bring their innovative products to market.”
Last week GE followed up with an equally big announcement that it appears to have developed an inexpensive way to make organic LEDs (OLEDs), which the New York Times, in a story about GE’s discovery, described as thin, organic materials sandwiched between two electrodes that illuminate when an electrical charge is applied.
According to the Times, “General Electric just announced that it may have found the holy grail for lighting devices.” GE said basically that it has figured out how to make OLEDs out on plastic run through a printing press, instead of with glass. Given that the OLED market just for picture screens for TVs and the like is expected to hit $4.5 billion by 2010, according to a recent survey, the pathway to profits for GE would seem brightly lit.
A key point that investors should remember is that, as GE reshapes the worlds of lighting and automobiles, the company may get a double payday. The first will come when it, and the companies in which it has invested, sell their energy-saving products. The second payday will come if and when a global carbon emissions trading market allows GE to sell by the ton the carbon dioxide emissions its products prevent from being generated.
We’re talking many billions of dollars – enough to make a big impact on the bottom line of even a behemoth like GE.
