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GE Announces $250M India Infrastructure Investment

General Electric Company Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt has announced a US$250 million investment in infrastructure and healthcare projects in India and said that GE intends to dramatically expand its industrial and financial presence in the country. Speaking to the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Immelt said, “India is a market set to realize its potential. The next ten years are critically important for India in terms of infrastructure and economic development as the country progresses toward becoming one of the largest economies in the world. Success will require depth in areas where GE excels: infrastructure and technology.” Infrastructure projects are at the top of GE’s agenda in India. In November 2005, GE announced it was reinvesting all of its proceeds from settlement of the Dabhol power project – valued at US$145 million – in Indian infrastructure projects and in equity stakes of projects sponsored by GE’s strategic customers. Today, Immelt announced that GE is adding another $100 million to this GE India Development Fund. GE will invest the Development Fund in technological solutions to help India address its most pressing needs. These funds will be invested in: Healthcare GE will be a partner in Dr. Naresh Trehan’s Medicity […]

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Hoku Plans to Enter Solar Module and Polysilicon Markets

Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NasdaqNM:HOKU) plans to diversify its product offerings by manufacturing and selling solar modules, in addition to manufacturing polysilicon, a key material used in the production of solar modules. Hoku anticipates that the costs to establish such facilities will be approximately $250 million, which the company will seek to fund through the issuance of debt and from potential customers’ cash down payments for future supply of polysilicon and modules. Hoku will explore basing these manufacturing operations in Singapore. “Our plans to enter the solar power market represents the logical extension of our business as a provider of clean energy technologies, and complements our core fuel cell business,” said Dustin Shindo, chairman of the board of directors, president and chief executive officer of Hoku Scientific. “However, while the market for fuel cell products is still emerging, the solar market is already a rapidly growing industry. One of the primary limits to the growth of the solar market is supply constraints of polysilicon, the key material used in solar modules and integrated circuits. To address these supply constraints, we also plan to manufacture sufficient quantities of polysilicon to meet our initial and future expected demand.” Hoku Scientific intends to operate […]

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Bank of China Launches First Chinese SRI Fund

BOC has launched China’s first ever socially responsible investment fund. The new Sustainable Growth Equity Fund is the first in China to apply socially responsible investment criteria, and an important milestone for socially responsible investment and sustainable development. Wu Jun is BOC’s International Investment Manager, and Head of Sustainable Investment. He is also managing the fund, and says he will look beyond financial performance to include “sustainability of the business model, corporate governance, corporate strategy and the attitude towards social responsibility” as investment criteria. “It’s possible to promote positive and socially responsible corporate behaviour – as well as long term capital appreciation for investors”, Wu Jun says. Socially responsible investment first gained profile in the USA and Europe in the early 1990’s and has since grown rapidly. With China’s first SRI fund now under way, the country’s vast population may at last begin to experience the benefits of clean, green and socially sustainable investment. Wu Jun says that he expects Chinese SRI to accelerate following the BOC lead. “There is a lot of support building here in China for investment that benefits society, as well as earning good commercial returns. We expect to see SRI become increasingly prevalent, and BOC […]

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The Energy Challenge – The Greener Guys

By Jad Mouawad, May 30, 2006 When Timberland, the outdoor clothing company, studied ways to reduce its carbon emissions four years ago, it weighed several options: building a wind farm in the Dominican Republic, buying power generated by renewable resources and setting up a vast bank of solar panels at one of its distribution centers in Ontario, Calif. It chose to do all those things, but that was the easy part. When Jeffrey B. Swartz, Timberland’s president and chief executive, considered how much carbon dioxide was produced in making leather for the company’s famous boots, the answer came as a surprise. “As it turns out, the vast majority of the greenhouse gases associated with manufacturing leather comes from cows in the field,” Mr. Swartz said. “Yes, methane.” While Timberland figures out how to reduce these emissions ? it is examining ways to change the feed for cows ? the company has already cut its greenhouse gases by 17 percent from their 2002 level and aims to become carbon-neutral by 2010 by offsetting its emissions through renewable or alternative energy sources. Americans are increasingly recognizing that the effects of carbon emissions on global warming are a serious problem, but there are […]

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