GE Program to Assess Product Life Cycle Impact

May 4, 2009

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GE Global Research, the technology development arm for the General Electric Company, has established the Ecoassessment Center of Excellence as part of its Ecomagination initiative. The new program is focused on developing measurement tools and processes to assess and manage a product’s environmental footprint throughout the entire lifecycle of the product from raw materials used in the early stage research to the end of a product’s useful life.

Researchers at the Niskayuna, N.Y.-based company plan to work with key stakeholders to develop a systematic approach for assessing the overall environmental impact of a product from the raw materials, energy and water used in the early stages of research to the disposal of a product at the end of its lifecycle, according to the company.

A few project highlights include a pilot project with GE Healthcare’s global design organization to evaluate the use of life cycle assessment and eco-design tools for medical equipment, and an assessment of the environmental impact of biofuels. For more about GE’s Ecoassessment projects and activities, click here for the GE technology blog.

The ecomagination initiative is GE’s commitment to develop and drive clean technology and product solutions that help solve environmental challenges, says the company. GE reports it is doubling its level of investment in clean research & development from $700 million in 2005 to more than $1.5 billion by 2010.

Since the initiative was launched in 2005, GE has more than quadrupled the number of environmental products from 17 to more than 80. Most recently, GE Digital Energy released the latest addition to its ecomagination product portfolio, the 750 kVA SG Series Digital Energy uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system for data centers.

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