Green Energy, Clean Energy, Coal-Beautification, Tobacco-Free, and Nuclear Plants in Poland

General Electric (GE) Stock – Will Green Energy Make It Pop?
There’s no question that General Electric (NYSE:GE) is counting on green energy to help boost revenues. General Electric Co. CEO Jeffrey Immelt spoke to the ARPA-E Energy Innovation Conference in Washington and was clear about what he felt the country needed to do.

He indicated he was afraid that America would be non competitive in the alternative energy markets if action wasn’t taken quickly.
“Right now we have no certainty around an energy future,” Immelt said. “Let’s not take this growth industry and give it to every other country in the world but the U.S.”
Immelt went on to highlight ways he thought the government could help sell green energy to the masses and to protect American industry.

GE CEO Immelt: U.S. lags in clean energy; federal smart grid oversight needed
On the global stage, the United States is facing its stiffest competition to date in the race for clean energy, said General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt at a conference in Maryland.

Speaking at the ARPA-E Summit in National Harbor, Md., Immelt said energy demand is redirecting toward the developing world, and unclear policies and low levels of research and development spending could hinder U.S. progress moving forward — despite new technologies in the pipeline.
“Unless we have a broad perspective on job creation, innovation, and technology growth, we are going to fall behind as a country,” Immelt said, as reported by SmartPlanet sister site CNET. “We need growth as a country and globally we play in a much more competitive arena than any other time in our lifetimes.”
Immelt said current trends indicate that Asian countries will demand energy products at a higher rate than the U.S. or Europe — drawing businesses, innovation and supply chain strength to those countries.
As an example, Immelt said the number of passenger cars sold in China and India will be more than twice the number sold in the U.S. by 2020.

GE Is on a Coal-Beautification Mission
General Electric is "changing the perception of coal energy in America." It's clean -- and sexy. Just watch this TV ad. But wait there's more. Here's the problem: you've got lots of coal in the ground that you want to use to generate electricity and profits. But coal has a reputation for being dirty and causing tons of pollution. So what do you do?

General Electric to go tobacco-free in 2011: Work sites to be tobacco-free
A year ago, General Electric Co. promised financial incentives to U.S. employees who kicked the smoking habit.

Now, the company is going a step further, launching a new policy that would make all the company's work sites tobacco-free by this time in 2011.
There are some other differences between then and now.
For one thing, the Connecticut-based company, one of the world's largest, is addressing only at-work behavior.
Employees won't be asked to sign a tobacco-free pledge that extends beyond the workplace, said Stephan Koller, a spokesman for GE Transportation, based in Lawrence Park Township.
But they will be asked to refrain from using tobacco of all kinds on company property.
General Electric to go tobacco-free in 2011: Work sites to be tobacco-free
GE Hitachi To Build Nuclear Plants In Poland - Update
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, and Polish power company Polska Grupa Energetyczna SA, Friday said they have signed a new agreement to collaborate on Poland's initiative to build next-generation commercial nuclear power plants. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy is a nuclear alliance formed by General Electric Co. (GE: News ) and Hitachi Ltd. (HIT: News ).

Through this alliance, Poland plans to build two nuclear power plants that would help the country diversify its energy production, which currently relies heavily on coal-based technologies.