GE CEO: Smartgrid essential for US

Jeffrey Immelt

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt has said in a speech that the redirection of energy demand towards the developing world could leave the United States lagging behind in global energy technology development unless the country invests in technical innovations with large-scale deployments, such as a larger, smarter, federally-run national electricity grid that could spark future innovation.

Speaking at the ARPA-E Summit in National Harbor, Md., Immelt said energy demand gravitating toward the developing world and the bulk of new clean-energy business risks going along with it, and unclear policies and low levels of research and development spending could hinder US progress moving forward - despite new technologies in the pipeline.

"Unless we have a broad perspective on job creation, innovation, and technology growth, we are going to fall behind as a country," he said. "We need growth as a country and globally we play in a much more competitive arena than any other time in our lifetimes."

A steep hill to climb

The US has historically been a world leader in developing new technology, but conflicting policies across two administrations and the significant development in energy policies in emerging markets has left America with a rather steep hill to climb.

Immelt said current trends indicate that Asian countries will demand energy products at a higher rate than the US or Europe - drawing businesses, innovation and supply chain strength to those countries. For example by 2020, the number of cars sold in China and India will be more than twice the number sold in the US, reports CNET.

By then the auto industry in those two countries will consume all of the oil output of Saudi Arabia, he said.

Progress impossible without smartgrid

China in particular have focused policies on energy development and thus the creation of new jobs, yet Washington has often appear unclear on renewable energy mandates and regulations to cut emissions. The melee over the cap-and-trade bill is a good example of this.

During his speech Immelt said: "Nobody in this room should get at all complacent about where we are. We all need to get to work if we want a productive country in this space. We can address energy security, job creation, and reduction of global warming all at the same time. Technology is the answer, but we can't stand still."

Innovations and developments in the smart grid will be absolutely vital to ensuring America keep pace with rest of the world, and Immelt's comments compound the fact that any progress is impossible without it.

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

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