Tuesday, November 20, 2007

GE chief urges incentives to fuel nuclear switch. And, GE Persued Grant to Install GE Solar Panels on GE Headquarters

G.E. has had 115 years to master the art of sucking at the public teat. Practice makes perfect. First up, a call for mo money. Then, out of the archives, a call for mo money-egregious version. G.E. is a member of USCAP.

From the Financial Times:

US government hopes that hundreds of nuclear power plants will be built to boost national energy supplies will be dashed unless the power industry is given strong financial incentives to switch away from fossil fuels, said Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric.

Mr Immelt told the Financial Times that large-scale nuclear construction would go ahead only if a high enough cost was placed on carbon-dioxide emissions. The US administration backs large-scale investment in nuclear power to strengthen energy security and curb greenhouse gas emissions. But Mr Immelt said only five to 10 US nuclear power projects were likely to go ahead unless there was a carbon-pricing framework to create incentives for utilities to build more....MORE

HT: Energy Roundup

Here's the one I treasure:
GE gets grant to install GE solar panels on GE headquarters

Energy Fund Pays General Electric To Buy GE

General Electric gets state grant to buy GE-made solar panels

The PR flack was quoted as saying:

“It’s a good demonstration project for the technology,” O’Toole said.

Asked why a large, profitable corporation like GE would need financial help from the state, O’Toole said one reason “is to show you have to invest in new technologies. Companies cannot do it alone.”

HartfordBusiness.com

In other GE news, spokesmen did comment on whether PR spin could be harnessed as an inexhaustible and eternal source of power.

GE's 2006 revenues were $168,307,000,000

Among cities its size Hartford's child poverty rate is the second highest in the country. In greater Hartford, 100,000 people receive food from food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, and 40,000 of them are children.

The grant to GE is funded by an electric bill surcharge, levied on every household in the state.