Word: solarization
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...into greener arenas despite the Federal Government's recalcitrance. For instance, Senate proposals to cap CO2 emissions--opposed by congressional Republicans and President Bush--failed to make it into the energy bill. The Senate bill does require utilities to generate 10% of electricity from renewable fuels like wind or solar by 2020, but Bush wants more emphasis on tax breaks for oil and gas production. Immelt is one of a growing number of chief executives, including the heads of major utilities, who think carbon caps are both inevitable and a feasible response to global warming--a condition that nearly every...
...capitalize on coal-gasification technology purchased last year from Chevron, allowing GE to sell coal-fired power plants that spew fewer greenhouse gases. (GE is in discussions with coal-rich China on various "clean coal" initiatives too). Other eco-ventures include a hybrid locomotive, due in 2007, fuel cells, solar panels, energy-efficient water desalination systems--and, of course, a greener lightbulb. All told, Immelt wants company operations to be a giant showroom for his high-tech green products. "There's this mumbo jumbo that you can't do this and be competitive," he says. "What we've tried...
...SOLAR BIRDBATH...
Exxon shareholders are mostly on Raymond's side. The boss, after all, has delivered on profits 10 years running --to the tune of $25 billion in 2004 alone."We don't think the technology for renewables--whether solar or biomass--can support a profitable business," says Stuewer. Electricity generated by solar, she notes, is five times as expensive (for now) as that produced by gas or coal. Exxon is investing in Stanford's Global Climate and Energy Project, she says, to develop breakthroughs in solar, biofuel, hydrogen and even coal technologies that could be offered cheaply and profitably to developing...
...wrong, then, about its bet on going green? Exxon is a fuel company, while GE makes "devices," says Stuewer. And therein lies the crux of their differences. Exxon did toy with alternative-energy technologies--most notably with solar in the 1970s--but failed miserably. "Who was brought in to clean it up? Lee Raymond. He sold it all off," says Ed Ahnert, who retired last December as president of the ExxonMobil Foundation. "He learned you stick to what you know best...