It’s a Wonderful Lifecycle: Making green greener

Bill Flanagan, who leads the new Ecoassessment Center of Excellence that was just formed, says it’s a “win-win,” since “GE can make money by providing clean technology solutions, while also reducing the environmental footprint of developing those solutions.”

As, he writes in his blog: “First of all, let me share a little secret I’ve learned: there’s a lot more to a product than meets the eye. I no longer think about products as “products.” Instead, I think about them as ‘product systems.’”

Using the simple example of a chocolate bar, Bill says its “system” would involve how the ingredients were made, transported and processed and how the bar itself was wrapped, how the wrapping was printed, what kind of ink was used, how the candy was finally delivered and sold and whether the wrapper lands in a landfill. Says Bill: “Most product systems are at least this complicated, if not more so.”

It’s why GE is looking at what the environmental impacts actually are across a product’s life cycle, from materials extraction and processing through disposal at the end of the product’s life.

Ron Wrocyznski, who also works at our Global Research Center, says GE is currently applying this kind of thinking to our existing products, such as our technology that can use biological feedstocks to produce syngas to run an engine, or our production of jet fuel from coconut and babassu oils. As Ron notes in his blog post: “Just because a fuel is created from a plant does not mean it is completely environmentally benign.” Its fertilizers may have been prepared by using fossil fuels; unabsorbed fertilizers can run into streams; the plants may be cultivated and transported using diesel-powered machines; scarce water resources may have been used to grow them; or forest land may have been cleared to open areas for additional agriculture.

“When it comes to biofuels, there indeed seem to be various shades of green,” says Ron. “Here at GE Global Research we are working to understand the spectrum of shades available and how to drive to a “green” that will give us the best products with the best environmental performance.”

* Learn more about the math behind the lifecycle assessment process
* Learn more about the center of excellence