Author: GEreporter

With thousands of airplanes grounded across Europe due to the eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull glacier yesterday, we’ve reached out to two GE teams to help explain the danger that volcanic ash presents to jet engines. In the audio clips below, we first get the perspective of GE Aviation’s Leslie McVey, an engineer and one of our commercial flight safety investigators working on everything from bird strikes, to weather events to the rare cases of volcanic ash. We also talked to Narendra Joshi, who works on advanced propulsion systems at GE Global Research, to get a perspective from the lab.

Steer clear: “It just looks like a normal cloud to the crew,” says Leslie about volcanic ash plumes in general. “They can’t tell that it’s ash as opposed to a normal cumulus cloud.” And, as MarketWatch.com notes, when it comes to volcanic ash, “visibility is not the issue, as all aircraft are equipped with systems allowing them to navigate through heavy clouds. The fear is that the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand in the ash could jam engines.” Photo: Icelandic Coast Guard.

As Leslie says about the ash in the audio clip below: “It goes through the combustor and it melts — becomes a liquid — and as it exits the combustor, it starts landing on metal surfaces and re-solidifying.”

Leslie McVey

Narendra Joshi

“Ash can [also] clog up the very fine cooling holes that are used in the turbo-machinery to keep the components cool in a very, very aggressive, hot environment,” says Narendra in the audio clip below. “So if you plug up those holes, then there’s a second level of problems… that will affect the machinery down the road.”

Plane scary: Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano burst into life for the first time in 190 years on March 20, 2010, according to NASA’s website. This image was acquired on April 4, 2010, by the Advanced Land Imager aboard NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. Photo: NASA.

* See a map of the ash cloud in The Telegraph
* Read CNN’s coverage of the eruption
* Visit NASA’s page on the volcano
* See more photos and maps in The Washington Post

Turning oceans of health data into usable information that can actually impact people’s lives can be a daunting task. It’s why GE’s healthymagination team is exploring new ways to make better sense of it via several data visualization projects — with the latest being our new interactive tool, “Fit to Perform,” which examines how health affects work performance and vice-versa. To create it, GE teamed with The Economist Intelligence Unit – which is the business-to-business arm of The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist magazine — and London-based designer, writer and author David McCandless. Over 500 global corporate executives were asked their opinions for the project — and today’s results are the first part of a wide-ranging investigation into critical healthcare issues around the world. The broader findings in the “Health of Nations” program of research and analysis, created for GE by The Economist Intelligence Unit, will be unveiled in May.

How do you stack up?: Click the image to launch the data visualization.

The “Fit to Perform” survey polled 554 executives in December 2009 and January 2010 on their companies’ practices to support the health and well-being of the workforce. Respondents represented a wide range of organizations in terms of size, geography and industry. More than 95 percent of those who took part were aged between 25 and 65.

Taking care of business: At the WHCC, Mike Barber participated on the “Health Engagement: Global Business Imperative & Opportunity” panel. In addition to addressing GE’s strength in the healthcare space, Mike stressed the important role that GE’s Water business can play around the world given the critical link between clean water and health.

This data visualization comes just as the 7th Annual World Health Care Congress is wrapping up in Washington, D.C. today. GE VP of healthymagination Mike Barber was at the Congress, and while there shared new consumer survey data that was compiled by global PR firm Edelman. It shows that the public wants businesses to be engaged with health issues in the same way that they have become heavily involved with environmental issues.

Edelman’s Health Engagement Barometer — an 11-country, 15,000-person study — found that 73 percent of respondents believe it as important to protect the public’s health as it is to protect the environment. Together with GE’s recent Better Health Study, the two surveys showcase the importance of health — and the work that still must be done by business and clinicians to better connect with consumer interest in health.

Forbes magazine takes an extended look at the Edelman survey results in the essay “Health Is The Next Green For Business,” by Nancy Turett, Edelman’s global president for health. A video interview with Mike Barber, shot at the World Health Care Congress, will be available on Forbes.com later today.

* Learn more about David McCandless
* Visit David’s blog
* Read “Data visualization: A GOOD look at affording care” on GE Reports
* Read “Ben Fry at SXSW 2010: Visualizing data challenges” on GE Reports
* Read “A GOOD look at the ‘Cost of Chronic Diseases’” on GE Reports
* See all of our recent data visualizations in one place

Scientists at GE Global Research, which is our technology development arm, have joined forces with the U.S. Army in a two-year research study to evaluate soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). The project at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia will combine the horsepower of GE’s labs with a range of GE’s current, and future, slate of Home Health technologies. Using advanced analytics to identify key symptoms of these disorders — which are still very difficult to measure and quantify — GE researchers hope to gather new information that will enable earlier detection, intervention and treatment of soldiers.

Ready to roll: The study is managed by the Department of Defenses’ Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) to support wounded soldiers. Researchers from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center and the Center For Telehealth at the Medical College of Georgia are also part of the team. Pictured above are medics at Salerno Air field hospital in the Khost province of Afghanistan. (Photo: NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

The incidence of TBI and PTSD has risen over time as more soldiers have been deployed, and in some cases, redeployed to combat zones. Researchers say that the increased use of roadside bombs in the combat zones could translate into as many as 20 percent to 30 percent of returning soldiers experiencing the symptoms of TBI. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the cause of tramautic brain injury can vary, from the severe – such as a “penetrating head injury” — to a “bump, blow or jolt to the head… that disrupts the normal function of the brain.” The CDC notes that “the severity of a TBI may range from ‘mild,’ i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness to ’severe,’ i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury.” The National Institutes of Mental Health define post-traumatic stress disorder as “an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened.”

GE researchers will use passive activity sensors to study the sleep quality, rest, activity cycles and brain activity of wounded soldiers. They will then measure, analyze and correlate the data with the symptoms of TBI and PTSD to help the military better assess the physical, behavioral, and occupational symptoms of these disorders. A key goal of the program is to establish a clinical relationship between activity, sleep and the severity of symptoms. The project will use existing and future versions of GE’s QuietCare technologies, which are currently being used in assisted living residents for senior citizens. The technology uses motion sensors and analytical software to learn the daily living patterns of residents — and then send alerts when certain out-of-the-ordinary events occur.

* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more about GE’s military support
* Read a fact sheet about the more than 11,000 U.S. veterans we employ
* Connect with our technologists on the Global Research blog
* Read more GE Global Research stories on GE Reports

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “From GE Global Research to Camp Liberty, Baghdad”
* “Hoo-rah! Marines fire-up GE’s smart grid technology”
* “G.I. GE: Sniffing out explosives with the U.S. Army”
* “Renewing American Leadership: Immelt at West Point”
* “Manufacturing in Massachusetts: Send in the Marines”
* “The military precision driving GE’s precision products”
* “GE sensors help “Hotheads” stay cool”

LEDs are again in the spotlight this week, with GE Lighting announcing today that retail powerhouse Target is installing energy-efficient light-emitting diode systems in refrigerated display cases in 500 stores nationwide. As you can see in the video below, they’ll cut energy use by approximately 60 percent compared with older fluorescent systems — and they only flick on when motion is detected. It comes as bright buzz continues to flow from Friday’s big announcement that GE is introducing a 40-watt LED bulb that can last for 17 years — “virtually lighting your kid’s bedroom desk lamp from birth through high school graduation,” as the Lighting team says.

The new system at Target operates at 29 watts per door, compared with an average of 73 watts with existing fluorescent lamps. The entire industry is rapidly investing in energy efficient lighting — with the Target technology the same one being used by 40 of the top 50 U.S. grocers and supermarkets and 19 of the top 25 convenience store chains. Globally, GE has sold more than 700,000 LED refrigerated display case lights since inventing the category in 2006.

Meanwhile, GE — which also invented the first visible LED — is drawing attention in tech circles for its new bulb. As PC Magazine describes it, “GE has unleashed a little monster of an LED bulb that does its best to imitate the common features (including brightness and lighting angles) of a conventional incandescent bulb. And since it’s based on light-emitting diodes, rather than a heated-up filament, it will use one-fourth of the typical power draw of an incandescent bulb.”

Bright idea: As the writers at The Kansas City Star quipped in their story about the bulb: “When the guys at GE got this idea, the light bulb over they heads must have looked like this.” Its 17-year life span is based on four hours of use each day. The LED bulb will last 3 times longer than a standard 8,000-hour rated life CFL and 25 times as long as an incandescent bulb.

Tech blog GreenBeat notes: “GE also plans to market the new product as safer than regular bulbs. It doesn’t contain mercury, making it easier to dispose of without worrying about toxic waste or watershed contamination. And it doesn’t need to heat up to cast off light, making it less of a fire hazard than its predecessors.”

Get down! GE has already filed multiple patent applications for the bulb, which is expected to cost $40 to $50 and will be available later this year or in early 2011.

* Read the Target announcement
* Read the LED bulb announcement
* For more information, visit www.whatsyourlightingstyle.com
* Learn more about LED quality standards

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Bendable OLEDs and next-gen LEDs grab the spotlight”
* “Our (lighting) heroes have always been Cowboys!”
* “From geothermal power to LEDs: Two ‘firsts’”
* “Starbucks gets a ‘green’ light; Pop. Sci. picks a winner”
* “Hey, what’s your sign? At AT&T it’s GE’s LEDs”
* “GE’s LEDs: A greener sign of the times at Holiday Inn”
* “GE’s OLED research: I saw the light — and it bends!”
* “Introducing the zero energy home”

At yesterday’s opening session of the World Economic Forum’s Latin America summit, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez was joined by Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco, President & CEO of GE International – who offered ideas on development as the region builds on its current economic successes. “These few things – they are ‘motherhood and apple pie’ as my American friends say — they are simple things,” Nani told the audience. “But prosperity and success always come out of the simple things we can think of.”

A rebroadcast of the opening session is available above. Nani’s remarks begin at the 46-minute mark. You can advance to that time by hitting the play button and then clicking the time bar running along the bottom of the video screen.

“One that is difficult to put in place as it is a long-term effort is education,” Nani stressed to the business and government leaders gathered in Cartagena, Colombia. “I travel to many countries and see many places. I can tell you that the places that flourish are the ones that have the two E’s: The ‘E’ of Energy – and I’m not talking about oil or gas – I’m talking about the ability of lighting bulbs. And Education. You see the countries that have energy but no education go nowhere. And countries that have education but no energy don’t go anywhere. The countries you see prospering are the ones that have both of these, heavily invested.”

Praising the major infrastructure projects currently underway in the region – including Colombia’s current roadway construction projects, Nani said, “We see great investments in infrastructure…. I think there are still big needs of power, big needs of water, for electricity, big needs for roads, for airports. These need to happen in order to bring these economies to the level where they belong and where they can prosper.”

Nani observed that the between 1981 and 2007, the world experienced a phenomenal type of growth that had not been seen before, driven by the introduction of new technologies and the phenomenon of globalization. With hundreds of millions of people entering a new way of life in places such as China and India, the need for commodities exploded and Latin America was one of the regions that benefited as immense wealth was created in the process.

But now is the time, he said, to diversify. Pointing to the Middle East as an example, he noted how the economies there are rapidly diversifying away from oil and into a range of other industries. Nani also underscored the need to ensure that old threats do not emerge, such as those of political and democratic instability, he said. “Another mistake is the return to protectionism, a return to high import duties, and a return to a taxation system that does not conform to taxation systems in other parts of the world,” he said. “Tell me an economy in history that has prospered putting big import duties or taxation.”

To a round of applause, Nani said “one other important point is the absolute elimination of corruption. Corruption is always a threat to development. Corruption leads to uncompetitive environments…. I am appealing to governments to really fight this enemy. It is the enemy for economic development. Following up on corruption is the concept of governance: clean, well-constructed illuminated governments is very important.”

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Taking a look at GE in Brazil during WEF Latin America”
* “Putting flare gas on the firing line at the WEF in Davos”
* “Switching smart grids from ‘demo’ to ‘deploy’ at WEF”
* “Brazil’s turbines sweetly hum with sugar-based ethanol”
* “The sugar-land express: Brazil orders 50 locomotives”
* “Brazil’s new Azul airline inks $1B services deal with GE”
* “GE wins $250 million offshore drilling contract in Brazil”
* “Brazil boosts clean gas in the Amazon; wind in the East”

We’ve recently written about GE’s accelerated push into next-generation “thin film” solar technology. In the post below – excerpted from tech blog greenbiz.com today — Danielle Merfeld, who is director of Solar Technologies at GE Global Research, tackles the topic of “Why it’s time to take solar seriously.”

Flex time: The vision for thin film solar panels is that they will be lightweight, inexpensive and can one day be wrapped around objects, conform to a roof, or even hung like sails. R&D on thin film at GE Global Research is pictured above

Danielle Merfeld

“The ongoing debate today is whether solar photovoltaics (PV) will emerge from its niche position within the energy sector to become a larger part of our power generation portfolio,” Danielle writes on greenbiz.com.”

“Because solar PV has been in development for 60 years, you could easily assume that it might be another 60 years before it becomes a major energy source. But speaking from within a company that has supplied 25 percent of the world’s power generation technology, that future could arrive sooner than many realize.

“Right now, PV costs are higher than other solutions today — including other renewables. But the overall trends and recent progress within the PV industry reveal that solar is poised for major growth…. PV module costs are 10 times cheaper than what they were 30 years ago. Even more impressive is the greater than 30 percent reduction in installed PV systems costs in the U.S. — and even deeper reductions in Germany where competition has become more fierce over the past decade.

“Despite the financial crisis, investor interest in solar technology continues to be strong. Solar PV held the distinction of having more venture capital and private equity funding funneled into it than any other technology on the planet from 2006 to 2008.

“These investments and others have borne advances such as cheaper, more efficient thin film PV modules, and micro inverters that enable safer, modular, scalable rooftop systems complete with built-in communications. Companies like GE and others are working to address the integration challenges of putting large amounts of variable resource onto the electrical grid through advanced controls and communications, as well as looking at important storage issues….

“Although electricity demand is down in North America, Europe and Japan, we also should not underestimate the need for future replacement generation. Coal retirements by 2015 alone could account for a sizable chunk … Another trend that could disrupt our expectations for power generation requirements is the electrification of vehicles. A gradual shift to electric cars in the U.S. (10 percent by 2020) would create a new source of distributed demand….

“Of course, there are potential downsides as policy changes could delay or inhibit growth, and integration challenges to grid infrastructure could delay high penetration of PV generation on the grid. But even still, the trend is unmistakable.”

* Read her full post on greenbiz.com
* Watch “Cracking the thin film solar code in GE’s 4 global labs” on GE Reports
* See our interview with Danielle: “Catching rays with ‘solar sails’” on GE Reports
* Read about our thin film solar partnership with PrimeStar Solar
* Hear more from the scientists at GE Global Research
* Read more Global Research stories on GE Reports
* Read “Cheers! To a decade of innovation at GE’s labs” on GE Reports

Latin America is in the spotlight today as the World Economic Forum’s regional summit kicks off — and so, too, is GE’s presence in Brazil, which is marking its 90-year anniversary. With the country accounting for 40 percent of GE’s South American revenue — $7.5 billion in 2009 — we briefly talked to GE Brazil President and CEO Joao Geraldo Ferreira about the 90-year milestone and what the country means to GE and the region. “Brazil definitely has the momentum right now,” Ferreira said. “Brazil was the last one to get into the economic crisis, and the first one to get out of the crisis. The economy was supposed to grow by ½ percent GDP in 2009. This year they’re projecting 5.2 percent, and maybe more GDP growth.”

High flying: Ninety years ago, GE established a product distribution center in Brazil, which at the time had almost no modern factories. Donkeys transported the new products. Nowadays, it’s high-tech, such as the jet engines that are serviced in GE Celma’s aviation plant in Petrópolis, Brazil — a small town near Rio de Janeiro — seen above.

Happy Birthday: GE is responsible for many of Brazil’s “firsts” — from refrigerators in 1952 to its first digital mammography and cardiac disease scanners in 2003. GE’s locomotive plant is above.

 
Ferreira noted that because Brazil’s exports account for a relatively modest 14 percent of GDP – compared to China’s 40 percent — the country only needs to absorb a much smaller share of the surplus goods it produces during years of economic downturn.

“In a frozen global market, that’s significant,” he said. “Brazil may not be growing like India or China with 9, 10, 11 percent GDP growth every year, but we have very diversified growth. And that is critically important.”

In addition to aviation and locomotives, there are immense opportunities for GE in water, healthcare and wind energy, Ferreira said. For example, the Brazilian government recently held its first “wind auction,” and Ferreira said GE captured close to 30 percent of the market.

“When you think about diversifying the energy matrix in Brazil, and then when you think of the products that GE has, it makes a lot of sense for us to be offering those solutions,” he said.

Local heroes: Zaqueu Sérvulo de Alcantara, a 20-year veteran of GE Transportation in Contagem, told us. “In May 2008 I received a crystal-made miniature locomotive directly from the hands of the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. At that time, I told him ‘Your Excellency, you remember when you said that you would not buy new locomotives, because they were too expensive to import? No need to worry, because GE makes them here in Brazil now!’”

The subject of how Latin America can achieve a sustainable recovery following the economic crisis is precisely what the 400 business, government and thought leaders assembled at the 3-day WEF summit in Cartagena, Colombia are tackling this week. Ferdinando “Nani” Beccalli-Falco, President & CEO of GE International, will be on tomorrow’s panel — which will be webcast live — that is addressing the short-term reforms and policies needed in the region to promote a strong economic recovery. Rogerio Patrus, GE’s CEO for Latin America, will be moderating a closed session on Development of Infrastructure across Latin America at the summit.

* Watch the live webcast at 3:15 p.m. ET (2:15 p.m. Colombia) on April 7

It’s a gas: GE began its oil and gas operations in Brazil in 1989. Just last year the company won a $250 million contract to supply Petrobras of Brazil with 250 of GE’s advanced VectroGray subsea wellheads for deep-sea drilling. The VectroGray wellheads are manufactured in the GE Oil & Gas Jandira plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. “Overall, oil and gas is one of the major opportunities we have in Brazil,” Ferreira said.

Learn more about GE in Brazil in these GE Reports stories:
* “Brazil’s turbines sweetly hum with sugar-based ethanol”
* “The sugar-land express: Brazil orders 50 locomotives”
* “Brazil’s new Azul airline inks $1B services deal with GE”
* “GE wins $250 million offshore drilling contract in Brazil”
* “Brazil boosts clean gas in the Amazon; wind in the East”

* Learn more about GE’s citizenship efforts at our aviation facility in Brazil

Having recently taken the newly created role of president and CEO of GE’s business operations in India, John Flannery’s job is to consolidate all businesses into one team with an integrated strategy in the critically important country. Since GE’s business leaders have traditionally reported to their respective GE business divisions in countries such as India, we asked John to tell us what the changes will mean:

A mini-GE: “India is growing quickly and literally every sector of the economy has needs,” John said. “Everywhere you look there is a lot of demand and opportunity for growth.”

What is GE doing to make India more of a focus in its global strategy?
John: In the past, the teams in India reported back to the GE team outside of India. Instead of having decision making in other parts of the world, we’re building an organization of businesses in India that will report to me and we will be able to make more decisions on the ground. The center of gravity will move towards India, it will be like a mini GE. It’s important to underscore that this is not a walling off of India from the rest of the company. It’s really the best of both worlds: Local decision-making and access to the global firepower of research and product ideas.

What challenges does GE face in India that are different from other developing countries?
John: Broadly speaking we want to go where the opportunities are. The primary areas of opportunity are in infrastructure, energy, healthcare and water and clearly financial services. There is rising demand and a capacity shortage. There is demand in transportation infrastructure in both aircraft and locomotives.

We are seeing strong and growing local competitors in India and China. Multinationals can’t pick and choose to only compete with other multinationals. The challenge is how to compete locally. Right now, in manufacturing, we have strong capabilities at our healthcare business in India, so we need to look at our manufacturing strategy overall and deliver a low cost channel that can be competitive in this environment.

We need to be in a competitive position with localized products at lower price points and simpler technology. India is driving access to low-tech medical devices that are available to many more people versus devices with state of the art dynamics.

Local tech: One of GE’s major research labs is located in Bangalore, India. Says John: “We’ve developed a stripped-down ECG (The MAC 400 portable electrocardiograph) device at a fraction of the usual cost. It’s something that every physician in the country can have even in the most remote places.”

How does the Indian way of doing business differ from business in the U.S.?
John: One of the characteristics of Indian business is its model of innovation and creativity. They developed new business models for the entire outsourcing industry. They admirably make fast-paced and quick decisions and that’s a way of business we have to emulate. We need to engineer products at low price points and have the ability to customize our business models.

Essentially, many of their businesses are family-run, publicly listed companies. Quite often they are controlled by the family and run with the small business instinct of a family business. They’re able to move to the left or right very rapidly.

What has been some of your previous experience in 22 years at GE?
John: In the late 90’s I had an overseas assignment (CEO GE Capital Argentina and Chile) in South America and was based in Argentina. I have been President and CEO of GE Capital Asia Pacific and CEO of GE Commercial Finance, Asia.

What are some of the things you’ve learned that you can bring to your new role in India?
John: There are a couple of things that jump out at me. It’s dangerous to assume that there is only one way to be successful. I’ve seen time and time again that there are many other ways of accomplishing things and I’m very open-minded about the potential of getting things done in different ways. We need to be open to the local mindset and letting go of always doing things in the traditional way.

In financial services there’s a business practice of giving a personal check as security for taking out a loan. In the United States we’d say this is a meaningless personal check with no value. But in India, it’s a very personal commitment, an oath of extreme importance and real commercial value. Lenders have something significant to look at.

As CEO, what are your short-term priorities and goals?
John: Right now, we have several billion dollars in sales, but we ought to be several times bigger. I come from financial services, so in the very short term my priorities are learning about the other businesses in the organization, firming up what we have, and expanding the organization’s capabilities.

What are India’s biggest needs as they relate to GE?
John: Two things that have struck me are the oil and gas and water businesses. It looks like there can be a lot of growth in oil and gas exploration and production. We’ll definitely turn up the heat and focus on finding local partners.

In the water business, there is a chronic shortage of water at the consumer and industrial level. We’re competing for industrial reuse. It’s a very small business today and if we play our cards right, it could become a big business.

Betting big on R&D: Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in R&D at GE in the last decade, resulting in a dramatic expansion of GE Global Research’s labs in Bangalore, India.

Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “Reverse Innovation hits Harvard’s most influential list”
* “Reverse innovation: How GE is disrupting itself”
* “Reverse innovation: Building GE’s local growth model”
* “Winning micro customers in mega markets”
* “Localized breakthroughs go global”
* “Cracking the thin film solar code in GE’s 4 global labs”
* “Cheers! To a decade of innovation at GE’s labs”

* Read Joe Leahy’s story, “India: A nation develops,” in The Financial Times
* Read coverage of John’s new role via Bloomberg

GE’s holographic disc technology continues to draw notice in tech circles. Tech blog Gizmodo just spent some time at GE Global Research kicking the tires on the breakthrough, which will allow 100 DVDs to be stored on a single hologoraphic disc. And the research is generating buzz across Asia as the 2 million-circulation magazine China Business News Weekly just named it “Coolest Technology of 2009.” As Gizmodo writers John Herrman and Matt Buchanan note: “The secret sauce is the material the disc is made out of, and how it reacts to light. On a broader level, where GE’s holographic storage differs from the other major approach to holographic storage … is that it uses even tinier micro holograms that store less data per individual hologram, but more in aggregate.”

Packs a wallop: As the Gizmodo team writes: “This work table is deep inside the labyrinthine complex that is GE’s Global Research Lab, 550 acres of big machines and big brains, in the hinterlands of Niskayuna, New York. It’s where the company that brought us 30 Rock invents the future of energy, aviation, healthcare, and dozens of other mega-industries, including, as it turns out, data storage.”

In April 2009, GE researchers successfully demonstrated a huge step forward in mass storage technology with micro-holographic storage material that can support 500 gigabytes of storage capacity in a standard DVD-size disc. This is equal to the capacity of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs or the hard drive for a large desktop computer. As GE’s Brian Lawrence writes on the GE Global Research blog: “Holographic Storage sounds like something you might find on Star Trek, but in fact it has actually been around a while. The first papers on holographic storage were published in 1963, and people have been working on it ever since. Unlike the optical storage technologies that we are all used to (CDs and DVDs), which store information in one or two layers in the disc, holographic storage uses the entire volume to store the data.” Click here to read his full explanation of how laser beams read the information on the disc.

As Gizmodo notes, GE’s technology is “designed to fit in with the current optical media infrastructure, meaning it’ll be cheaper and easier to roll out than some radically different tech. That is, the discs are the same physical size and shape as CDs and DVDs, and they use a laser that’s very similar to Blu-ray’s, even using the same wavelength. On a hardware level, it just uses a slightly different optical element, but the rest basically comes down to software/firmware, meaning you might still be able to play your Blu-ray discs in a holographic storage drive.”

Meanwhile, the “Coolest Technology” nod in China marks the second year-in-a-row that GE has won. GE’s “Digital Heart” technology, in which GE scientists in Shanghai created a virtual model of the human heart that could one day enable the non-invasive diagnosis and treatment of cardiac disease, was named coolest technology of 2008.

Next gen: GE has been working on holographic storage technology for over six years. Besides pushing the limits of storage capacity, GE researchers also developed new technology that uses plastic-based holographic materials to more securely store information. The new material could store 3-D images of a person’s face, record their fingerprints and even create unique animations.

* Read “The Future of Storage” on Gizmodo
* See Gizmodo’s image gallery shot at GE Global Research
* Watch a video on GE Reports: “GE unveils holographic disc breakthrough”
* Read a blog post by Brian Lawrence, who manages GE’s holographic project
* Read a blog post by Yongwei Sun in our lab in China
* Read more GE Global Research stories on GE Reports

Today, GE Aviation announced that it’s creating an electric power R&D center near Dayton, Ohio. The center, which brings new jobs to the region, will develop technology for hybrid electric vehicles, naval platforms and newly designed aircraft, which have greater electricity needs. The end goal is to develop systems that will deliver electric power efficiently and robustly for GE Aviation’s military and commercial customers.

“Electrification in transportation is a growth area,” said Vic Bonneau, president of Electric Power for GE Aviation Systems. “The center will yield system-level benefits so that our customers can more rapidly gain from this trend in energy management, climate control, radars and sensors, silicon carbide based power conversion and electric actuation, to name a few.”

The center was made possible by a $7.6 million grant from the Ohio Third Frontier Commission. Through the grant, GE will collaborate with the University of Dayton Research Institute to develop cutting-edge computer modeling, simulation and analysis of advanced electric power systems. These modeling capabilities will eventually be applied to complex electrical systems like smart utility grids and the next generation of commercial transport aircraft.

The center’s location will be announced later this year with a planned opening in 2012. Employees at the center will join 2,800 researchers and employees at GE’s four global research facilities. GE’s R&D employees represent nearly every scientific discipline and more than 1,100 hold doctoral degrees.

This announcement follows the opening of GE’s new Advanced Manufacturing Software and Technology Center (AMSTC) in the greater Detroit area, which will grow to employ more than 1,100 new technologists over the next few years.

* Read today’s announcement
* Learn more about GE’s other Research Centers

As part of GE’s sponsorship of the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration — which is a two-year-long commemoration of President Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6, 2011 — we’ll be taking an ongoing look at Reagan’s GE years through the lens of the employees he met and the technologies they made.

In 1954 when Ronald Reagan began his eight-year tenure as spokesman for GE, the television was already taking its place as the focus of the new home entertainment center. Color television was still a luxury, the phonograph had morphed into the “high fidelity” stereo and while slightly diminished, the faithful radio still had its place in the living room. While rudimentary television technology seemed wondrous to its early audience, few scientists or engineers could have predicted that it would serve as a forerunner not only for future entertainment applications, but also for cutting edge medical care.

Home sweet home: Take a tour of the Reagan’s home and all of its products that help them “live better electrically,” as the old slogan goes, in the General Electric Theater clip above.
 
On its surface, GE’s digital x-ray radiography detectors seem to have little in common with the General Electric television sets that Reagan promoted during the Eisenhower era. But as Tom Feist, the general manager of global x-ray detectors at GE Healthcare, observes, there’s an evolutionary link between the two technologies.

“The basic storyline is that the TV’s were big and bulky and that even then, there was a vision of a television that would take up less space,” Tom says. “At the time, no one had any idea of how to get rid of cathode ray tubes.”

Decades before flat screen TV’s became popular, GE engineers were trying to figure out how to create a less cumbersome television. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, the company began making inroads into flat panel displays and LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology and created its first color LCD displays for aircraft cockpit instrument panels. GE began developing the same flat screen displays for televisions, but got out of the television manufacturing industry in 1986.

It was from the LCD technology used in flat panel displays that Jack Kingsley, a GE researcher, developed the idea for the digital x-ray imaging device in the late 1980’s. Kingsley and his team discovered that they could use LCD technology to absorb X-rays, as opposed to giving off light. GE commercially introduced radiographic imaging in 1999 and in 2000, began marketing a digital system mammography.

One of digital’s biggest advantages is its ability to facilitate real time imaging. If a physician in Sydney needs to consult with a specialist in London, it can be done almost instantaneously. Eliminating analog film is also environmentally sound, saving on the need for fixer and developer chemicals. Tom says that today, digital x-ray imaging accounts for more than half of the x-rays used in hospital in the United States and Western Europe. He believes that ultimately it will completely replace standard film-based machines.

* Read “Coast to coast with 250,000 employees: Reagan at GE” on GE Reports
* Read “The Reagan centennial: A legacy of progress” on GE Reports
* Read Reagan essays on our website by Thomas W. Evans, Peggy Noonan, Andrea Mitchell, Tom Brokaw, and Rudy Giuliani
* See more of Reagan’s General Electric Theater spots by clicking the videos in this slideshow
* Read GE’s Centennial announcement
* Learn more about the centennial at www.reagancentennial.com
* Watch a rebroadcast of Jeff Immelt’s speech at the Reagan Library
* Read “Picturing the benefits of digital x-rays” on GE Reports

While most teenagers will be splashing in the surf or kicking around their hometowns during spring break, 15 year-old Parker Liautaud will be braving blizzards, bears, frigid water and the limits of endurance as he attempts to be one of the youngest people to ever ski to the North Pole. Parker, who has joint United States and French citizenship and goes to school in the United Kingdom, will spend eight to ten days on the polar ice this April with Arctic adventurer Doug Stoup – all to increase environmental awareness. GE is sponsoring the expedition, which social media-centric Parker hopes will launch a new global digital network of environmentally aware young people. He’ll be hitting the ice starting April 2 and will be reporting on his progress online through his Facebook Fan Page “The Last Degree” as well as providing updates via his Twitter handle @parkerliautaud.

Take the trek: If you visit Parker’s Facebook Page you can pledge your status update to a green task; guess when Parker will get to the North Pole; submit videos of how you are going to improve the environment; tag a visual petition to support Parker; and watch video interviews with Parker and Doug. You can also share your ideas on how to improve the environment and increase awareness — with the best thoughts and videos being submitted to the delegates at the next United Nations environment conference scheduled for May 2010 in Germany.

“I became passionate about the Polar region last March,” says Parker, “when I participated in an expedition through Antarctica with Robert Swan OBE, a world famous Polar explorer and the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles. I learned about the significant changes in ice conditions and wildlife that are taking place there today and decided that I wanted to do something about it. The polar region is a barometer of global environmental health, and the changes that are taking place there today create a real impact on our planet. I hope to rally young people around the world to work together and build a sustainable future.”

Parker adds: “I’ve been training daily for months to prepare myself physically. I go to the gym for about 1-2 hours every day and pull tires 3-4 days a week around my schoolyard. I’ve also been drinking 2-3 protein shakes daily to build fat in addition to muscle as I’ll burn approximately 8,500 calories a day during the trip but only take in 5,000. I’ve been blogging about my experience training for this on Daily Mile.”

She likes your style: Fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood has pledged to support Parker’s trip – and has even designed a flag for Parker to plant when he reaches the north pole.

Connect with Parker’s expedition via these links:
* Facebook Fan Page: www.facebook.com/thelastdegree
* Twitter: www.twitter.com/parkerliautaud

* Read the announcement
* Watch Parker’s video interview on CNN
* Read coverage via UK’s Metro
* Learn more about GE’s ecomagination technologies
* Learn about GE’s eVent fabrics technology that Parker will be wearing
* Learn about Rab, which is providing expedition gear for Parker

Even with health insurance, healthcare can cost an arm and a leg. It’s why we’ve again partnered with our friends at GOOD – which is the magazine and website for people who want “to do good” — to take a look at some key statistics. The infographic below, which draws on government data to examine geographies and income and education levels between 1997 and 2006, shows a growing number of Americans avoided healthcare due to cost. For example, the percentage of Americans living in rural areas who are going without care is increasing at a faster rate than those living in urban areas.

Troubling picture: Click the chart to enlarge it. The information comes from Health, United States, 2009, which is the 33rd annual report on the health status of the Nation, prepared by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services for the President and the Congress. 2006 is the most recent data available. The entire report is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm

To help make sense of the mountains of healthcare information piling up every day, GE has been looking for ways to visualize the data so that more people can use it. The goal is to increase awareness about important health trends. That awareness, in turn, can help increase access to care — which is one of the drivers of GE’s healthymagination strategy.

As Ben Fry, who’s partnered with GE on a number of data visualizations, and GE’s Camille Kubie wrote about the concept in their recent GE Reports blog post: “How can critical questions be tackled intelligently when the information gets in the way? While faster computers and bigger hard disks have made us really good at measuring and recording things, we have not kept up with how to present the resulting information. Consumers face the twin problems of determining the credibility of data sets and accessing those data sets in forms that are easily absorbed. In other words, what should we ignore and how can we “see” relevant data more clearly?”

They add: “By its very nature, data visualization can be exceptionally flexible with an ability to be both aesthetically driven as well as utilitarian. Great visualizations are business tools, communication platforms, and works of art. The designs are as varied as the solutions but the good ones share one thing in common: they present complex information clearly and intelligently.”

* Read “Ben Fry at SXSW 2010: Visualizing data challenges” on GE Reports
* Read “A GOOD look at the ‘Cost of Chronic Diseases’” on GE Reports
* See all of our recent data visualizations in one place

The new gearless turbine technology that we’ve been writing about lately in our offshore wind stories is now on the fast track — with GE announcing today that it’s investing $450 million to produce it on a large scale. The plans call for development or expansion of wind manufacturing, engineering and service facilities in the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden and Germany — signaling GE’s commitment to the growing European offshore wind market. The European Wind Energy Association expects that Europe’s offshore wind sector will grow more than 70 percent in 2010, with continued growth forecast over the next several years.

Ready to make a splash: Offshore wind has a “bright future” in Europe, said Ferdinando (Nani) Beccalli-Falco, president and CEO of GE International. GE’s gearless technology is especially suited to the harsh environments offshore, where high maintenance costs can result when the only way to service turbines is by boat.

At the core of GE’s European expansion plans is the development of GE’s next generation wind turbine, a 4-megawatt machine designed specifically for offshore deployment. By comparison, GE’s most widely deployed turbine — with more than 13,000 in the field — is 1.5 megawatts. As the largest wind turbine in GE’s fleet, it will incorporate advanced drive train and control technologies gained through GE’s recent acquisition of ScanWind.

What’s under the hood? Click on the magazine pages to enlarge them. The two-page spread on GE’s next-generation offshore wind turbine is featured in the “How it Works” story in April’s issue of Popular Science. Photos courtesy of Popular Science

Offshore wind is expected to make a major contribution in helping the European Union reach its goal to have 20 percent of its energy produced from renewable resources by the year 2020. “These announcements lay the foundation for us to begin scaling our offshore business, technology and supply chain locally in Europe where we see the greatest growth opportunity,” said Victor Abate, vice president of GE Power & Water’s Renewable Energy business.

Fan club: This technology is already being demonstrated at a test site in Hundhammerfjellet, Norway where the first ScanWind direct drive unit has been operating for more than five years.

The expansion plans could equate to more than 2,200 jobs over the next decade. GE Energy plans to establish its offshore wind turbine manufacturing in the UK and will locate application and service engineering resources in the country. GE will also bring partners and suppliers of towers, blades, nacelles and other offshore wind components to the manufacturing facility.

In Norway, which is the planned site for the testing and demonstration of the first 4-megawatt wind turbines offshore, GE will add to its existing presence with development and service facilities and expanded research. In Sweden, GE will also expand its current offshore wind facilitates by developing a Conceptual and Systems Design Center in Karlstad, Sweden.

And in Germany, a new engineering center will feature product development, application engineering and advanced technology. GE also plans to expand its resources at its existing wind turbine manufacturing facility in Salzbergen, as well as the GE Global Research Center in Munich.

* Read today’s announcement

Learn more in these GE Reports stories and videos:
* “GE’s offshore technology expands with ScanWind buy”
* “Blade runners: How 134-foot wind blades are born”
* “Blade runners: GE’s wind blade breezes into town”
* “Took a whole lot of trying, just to get up that hill”
* “Renewables study: 274,000 jobs can be added”
* “Europe’s largest onshore wind farm expands with GE”
* “Builder of largest US wind farm inks $1.4B turbine deal”
* “GE’s giant wind turbines set to debut in Sweden”

The next time you see a GE scientist with silky smooth hair, or wearing irresistibly soft clothes, it could just be good grooming — or part of breakthrough research on capturing carbon. Today at the 239^th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Francisco, researchers at GE Global Research – which is our technology development arm — announced that relatives of the ingredients found in hair-conditioning shampoos and fabric softeners show promise as a long-sought material to scrub carbon dioxide out of the flue gases from coal-burning electric power generating stations. Their report, the first on use of these so-called aminosilicones in carbon dioxide capture, concluded that the material has the potential to remove 90 percent of CO2 from simulated flue gas. Even better, the new scrubber material may be less expensive and more efficient than current technologies.

Beauty secrets: GE chemist Robert Perry checks a flask containing an ingredient — similar to those in shampoos — that shows promise for capturing carbon dioxide, the main “greenhouse” gas linked to global warming. He’s standing in front of the CO2 scrubber machine, which measures the absorption and desorption of CO2 .

Dr. Robert Perry, a chemist in the Chemical Technologies and Materials Characterization Laboratory at GE Global Research, has been working on the project for over a year and delivered the news today at ACS, which is the world’s largest scientific society. Describing it as “exciting,” Bob writes on the Global Research blog: “[Coal] plants not only generate hundreds of gigawatts of electricity but billions of tons of CO2 every year…Currently, there are no CO2 -capture technologies in full-scale operation at coal-fired power plants, although there are several technologies that are being tested in pilot and slip stream scale. However, these routes have been calculated to significantly increase the cost of electricity if incorporated in a traditional coal plant. Our objective was to find a solvent-based process that would be efficient in capturing CO2 but still have a minimal effect on the cost of electricity.”

He explains that a “team of chemists, chemical engineers and molecular and process modelers from GE Global Research, GE Energy and University of Pittsburgh found that certain aminosilicones — which are active ingredients in hair conditioners, fabric softeners and flexible high-temperature plastics — “have up to a 50 percent improvement in CO2 capture capacity” when combined with another solvent. The new scrubber material would meet the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy, which funded the research, to develop carbon capture technologies with at least a 90 percent CO2 capture efficiency.

In the process they are developing, a liquid aminosilicone solvent will absorb CO2 and then be transferred to a unit where CO2 would be removed and stored. The aminosilicone solvent would then be recycled to react with more CO2 -rich flue gas. As they say: Rinse, lather, repeat!

* Read the announcement from the ACS
* Read Bob’s full post on the GE Global Research blog
* Read more Global Research stories on GE Reports

Contributor Heiner Markhoff is President and CEO — Water & Process Technologies for GE Power & Water.

While World Water Day only comes one day a year, each and everyday one billion people still don’t have access to sanitary water and those numbers are growing. This number serves as an alarm to us all that we must address the global threat. Fortunately, the technologies exist today that can help reduce freshwater consumption, improve water reuse and impact change. Just as we recycle newspapers and plastic bottles, technology can help us overcome our water challenges if we have the collective will to employ these tools.

Bucket loads of benefits: Tempe Arizona, a city in the heart of the southwest region that is constantly battling drought and water shortages, has expanded its water reclamation program resulting in the reuse of an additional 2.5 billion gallons of water a year. Its Kyrene Water Reclamation Facility has employed the latest technology to turn wastewater into a commodity that is marketable and usable. Part of the plant’s water reclamation is pictured above.

To immediately and effectively begin to reverse clean water scarcity, we need widespread adoption of water reuse practices. Water touches every industry and every sector. It impacts lives, livelihoods, global industries and local economies. That is why the private sector, government and policymakers, industry leaders and educators worldwide must work together and tackle the policies, technologies and fiscal issues needed to foster greater adoption of water reuse technology to help ensure an adequate supply of clean water for the future.

Taking care of business: The Kyrene Municipal Wast Water Plant in Tempe uses GE’s ecomagination ZeeWeed membranes. The additional water that it reclaims is applied to long-term storage credits for times of drought — and it supplies water for cooling systems at the city’s power generation plant. In addition, this reused water is helping to refill the town lake and is used for irrigation at city recreational centers. The ability to reuse water makes the city more attractive to businesses, allowing the city to expand its economic base and strengthen the local economy.

The benefits of reuse are real and in the United States federal government policies are currently under consideration that have great potential to advance the cause. Creative tax policies for the financing of water, wastewater and reuse infrastructure projects can help drive change. Other policies have been proposed that are designed to help the industrial sector adopt energy-efficient technologies and processes in water reuse, advanced motors and chilling equipment. With the right policy environment, U.S. industry can reduce fuel dependency, cut costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, add jobs and enhance global competitiveness. Similar measures across the globe could help put the world on a path to water security

* Watch a video about the successes achieved at the Tempe facility

Solving the world’s water challenges will take a team effort and broad collaboration to define how we value, use and reuse our water. The same water technology serving the city of Tempe has been installed in more than 500 drinking and wastewater facilities worldwide. The technology exists — we just need the will to realize its transforming potential.

Learn more in these GE Reports water stories:
* “Water summit opens the floodgates on reuse ideas”
* “Diving into access & scarcity at World Water Week”
* “Making a splash with water wins”
* “Citizen GE: With water, the glass is still half full”
* “Tech’s on tap with new GE-Singapore water center”
* “GE’s “sustainable cities” road show tours Europe”

* Learn more about GE’s water technologies in action around the world
* Try out GE’s interactive WaterExplorer
* Learn more about GE’s water technologies