From the Huffington Post:
General Electric Co. will cut its global water use by 20 percent over five years, CEO Jeff Immelt said Wednesday.
The Fairfield, Conn.-based company said it used 10 billion gallons of fresh water in 2006 for cooling towers and other manufacturing processes.
GE is also raising the sales target for a three-year-old initiative to promote environmentally friendly technology, Immelt said.
"We believe just like greenhouse gas emissions have been a big societal challenge, the same thing is true for water," Immelt said at a news conference in the Chinese capital. "We are committed to using our technology both inside and outside the company to reduce our water consumption by 20 percent by the year 2012."
GE sales of energy efficient, water saving and pollution reducing products and services exceeded $14 billion in 2007, Immelt said.
GE will now re-evaluate its worldwide water usage, Immelt said, and cut water usage by about 1.8 billion gallons a year.
GE's previous revenue target for its "ecoimagination" initiative was for $20 billion in annual sales by 2010. Immelt said the company is now raising that target to $25 billion due to the success of the initiative....MORE
