For years General Electric (GE) promised to “bring good things to life.” Now the company is promising a bold new venture to bring energy efficiency to the world.
In a speech at the company’s Minds+Machines conference in San Francisco this week, GE chief executive Jeff Immelt announced the company’s $1 billion investment in an as yet unnamed new company focusing on energy efficiency, according to Fortune.
Few details about the new company have been released, although its goals appear to aling with GE’s current energy and industrial internet offerings. The new venture will target institutional customers including hospitals, universities, retailers and government, among others.
GE also announced it is developing a new platform for developers, which is expected to make use of its existing Predix data analytics software. The company says that 4,000 users are currently testing the new developer’s platform, which it hopes to make available by the end of the year.
GE has a proven track record with software that businesses are already using to gain efficiency. Procter & Gamble currently uses GE’s Brilliant Manufacturing program, saving up to 20 percent in unplanned downtime. Exelon and PSEG use GE power plant software and report savings to customers of $230 million over the life of each power plant.