General Electric Co. announced on Monday its plans to invest $10 billion in clean-energy technology research.
The research will focus on energy projects such as gas turbine efficiency and waterless fracking, according to Reuters. The $10 billion will be invested through 2020.
The investment is part of GE's "Ecomagination" initiative, which was started in 2005 to develop new ways of combating environmental challenges created by global warming, Fox News reported. GE said the Ecomagination initiative has succeeded in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent since 2004 and reducing the use of fresh water by 47 percent since 2006.
GE chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt talked about the success of the initiative, Fox News reported.
"Ecomagination is one of our most successful cross-company business intiatives," Immelt. "Both investments in ecomagination research and development have resulted in strong returns for shareholders and improved cost and emissions savings for our customers."
GE's investment will focus on three areas, according to NASDAQ. The three areas will be natural gas, renewable energy and power plants. GE is looking to develop a way to replace water in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, increase wind turbine function and increase the efficiency of power plants.
GE will work with Statoil, a multinational oil and gas company based in Norway, in its goals for natural gas, NASDAQ reported. The aim for GE is to find a convenient way to use carbon dioxide for fracking as GE stated costs of current systems that use CO2 for fracking are too high for large-scale use.
GE will focus on making wind turbine blades more efficient and cheaper by using different materials, according to Reuters. GE also plans on expanding its "CNG In A Box" product, which allows natural gas producers to compress the fuel directly at the well being used locally in engines.
A huge section of the funds will go to energy-related projects, which Immelt sees as going in a positive direction, Reuters reported.
