GE Plastics ecomagination Initiative
Overview
o In May 2005, GE (www.ge.com) announced its ecomagination* initiative, a major worldwide effort to drive new business opportunities by helping customers solve their toughest environmental challenges.
o The focus of GE's ecomagination initiative is on accelerating the company's materials, energy, technology, manufacturing, and infrastructure capabilities to develop global environmental solutions. These include lighter and stronger materials, fuel cells, solar energy, hybrid locomotives, lower-emission aircraft engines, and water purification technologies.
o Through its ecomagination initiative, GE will more than double its research investment in environmentally responsible technologies from $700 million in 2004 to $1.5 billion in 2010. Out of this R&D effort, GE expects to launch a range of clean technologies which are projected to double the company's current $10 billion in annual revenues from ecomagination products to $20 billion by 2010.
o GE's ecomagination initiative also targets reducing the company's own greenhouse gas emissions one percent by 2012 and cutting the concentration of its greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 percent by 2008.
o GE Plastics (geplastics.com) is a $7-billion GE company, headquartered in the Unites States in Pittsfield, Mass., and is a leading global supplier of high-tech plastic resin, sheet, and film for a broad range of industries. These include automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, transportation, performance packaging, building & construction, telecommunications, and optical media.
o As part of GE's company-wide ecomagination initiative, GE Plastics leads the way in the development of environmentally responsible engineered plastics that meet global standards for recyclablity. Many of these products have also been designed to meet the requirements of halogen-free parts, help reduce environmentally harmful substances and emissions, conserve water resources, and promote energy efficiency.
o GE Plastics' Automotive business, headquartered in Southfield, Mich., U.S.A., has helped GE widen its competitive lead in the environmental arena with the introduction of several new ecomagination products for the global automotive industry. These include Flexible Noryl* resin, Lexan* SLX resin, and Valox iQ* and Xenoy iQ* resins.
GE's Flexible Noryl Resin
o GE's ecomagination initiative resulted in the development of new Flexible Noryl resin, initially developed to provide ultra-thin coatings for automotive wire and cable applications.
o Flexible Noryl resin meets the global automotive industry's need for an ultra-thin high-performance wire/cable insulation that also meets the requirements for halogen-free parts.
o Flexible Noryl resin helps meet international standards for recyclability - in contrast to cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and other traditional coating materials - allowing parts made with the new product to meet end-of-life recycling and take-back requirements in Europe and Asia.
o The thinner-wall insulation enabled by GE's Flexible Noryl resin can reduce cable weight by 25 percent for potentially greater fuel efficiency, and the reduced cable size allows for more electrical/electronics vehicle content in the same space.
GE's Lexan SLX Resin
o Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by automotive painting have been shown to have a negative impact on air quality. By applying GE's ecomagination initiative, GE Plastics developed paint-free Lexan SLX resin to help reduce VOC emissions associated with conventional paint.
o Lexan SLX resin is used on automotive body panels to provide super-high gloss, gorgeous metallic colors, excellent resistance to abrasion and chemicals, and outstanding weatherability. By infusing plastic with pigment, Lexan SLX resin is able to greatly reduce the use of paint in the automotive manufacturing process.
o Lexan SLX resin is an excellent candidate for automobile body panels that previously required primers and paint, giving customers an opportunity to change from a manufacturing process using styrene, solvent, or alcohol/volatile organics to one that has a less negative impact on the environment.
o Using innovative paint-infused Lexan SLX resin can help increase overall productivity by eliminating the vehicle-painting step; minimizing or eliminating costs from emission permitting fees and disposal; and providing a product that is as good as or better than traditional materials.
GE's Valox iQ and Xenoy iQ Resins
o New Valox iQ and Xenoy iQ resins are the essential elements of an environmentally progressive resin portfolio developed as part of GE's expanding ecomagination initiative to help customers solve their toughest environmental challenges.
o The new resins were developed as a result of a successful two-year initiative at GE Plastics that examined the company's manufacturing processes to redefine how its products can be made to be cleaner and more environmentally responsible than traditional materials.
o Valox iQ and Xenoy iQ resins offer excellent performance and are created with polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)-based polymers derived from 85 percent post-consumer plastic waste. They consume less energy and yield less carbon dioxide (CO2) in their manufacturing than traditional resins, reducing CO2 emissions by at least 1.7 kg per kg of resin and saving up to 8.5 barrels of crude oil per 1,000 kg of resin.
o The new GE resins have been designed for use in demanding automotive applications such as connectors, lighting bezels, energy absorbers, and body panels. They provide a competitive advantage by offering reduced CO2, post-consumer waste, and petrochemical use; reduced vehicle weight for greater fuel efficiency; chemical, thermal, and impact resistance; enhanced design freedom; and parts consolidation.
o If all PBT was replaced in 2005 with the Valox iQ and Xenoy iQ resins, it would have created an outlet for over 562,000 metric tons/year of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste. This is equivalent to 22.5 billion bottles - enough to circle the earth 120 times if aligned end-to-end. It would also be the equivalent to planting a forest 650 square kilometers in area, which is greater than the area of Tokyo.
o In addition to automotive applications, the new GE products are good candidates for applications within the consumer electronics and transportation industries.
