GE exec speaks on eco-economics

There are compelling economic benefits associated with green business investments, General Electric’s Ecomagination vice president said. 

Steve Fludder discussed the importance and viability of economic and environmentally friendly business tactics at the School of Management on Wednesday to an audience of more than 350 attendees as part of a lecture series on sustainability.

“To me, commercialization is when it makes environmental sense,” Fludder said.

Fludder has spent the last five years, as well as $5 billion, leading Ecomagination, a sector of GE concerned with developing products that will contribute to a “prosperous greener future,” he said.  

“It is green to be green,” Fludder said. “We have reduced our carbon footprint and have saved $100 million dollars all at the same time last year.” 

According to the Ecomagination 2008 annual report, revenue from Ecomagination products has nearly tripled since the sector was created in 2004. In 2008, Ecomagination made $17 billion in revenue, while simultaneously reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent. 

Fludder said Ecomagination viewed the recession as an opportunity to restructure the economy on terms that were environmentally friendly.

“In the beginning, being environmentally conscious was part of an initiative to boost the company’s credibility,” Fludder said. “But since then, GE has proved that going green can be as beneficial for shareholders as it is for environmentally-conscious consumers.” 

Ecomagination has initiated several energy-efficient projects and goals including reducing GE’s carbon emissions, pushing for clean coal energy production, reducing water use, improving water reuse and doubling investments in Ecomagination products and development in the next five years. 

“This is a society-wide issue,” Fludder said. “Its not just about what private companies, the government, or even universities do by themselves, it’s also about how they collaborate to tackle environmental issues.”

SMG Dean Louis Lataif said the lecture series is one way SMG is incorporating green education into BU life. 

“We want to encourage business leadership in environmental initiatives,” he said. “And starting with GE is a very appropriate way to send that message.”

BU Energy Club president Ben Snydacker said he would have liked to hear Fludder talk about how climate change is specifically shaping GE.

“It caught my ear when he . . . said there was not a real crisis that was causing this change in business,” Snydacker, a BU graduate student, said. “I was thinking, actually there kind of is.”

Andrew Sklar, a College of Arts and Sciences junior majoring in environmental policy and analysis, said Fludder seemed very hopeful about GE’s ability to provide clean energy, a viewpoint not often seen from the corporate world. 

“I usually think of energy companies as being dirty so it’s cool that a business like GE could be environmentally friendly,” he said. “I could see myself working in Ecomagination.”