GE Targets Net Zero Energy Homes by 2015

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(Business Wire)--
GE announced today that by 2015 it is developing a turn-key product portfolio
that will empower consumers to build - both new home builders and existing
homeowners - to efficiently consume, manage and generate electricity to enable
an overall net zero annual energy cost. In addition to GE`s current portfolio of
energy-efficient lighting and appliances products and demand response technology
that GE is currently developing, GE plans to develop residential power
generation products like solar PV and residential wind products, well
positioning GE to make the net zero energy home a reality.

"We have a long, trusted relationship with consumers, strong presence with home
builders, demand response appliance technology and, the extremely critical,
smart grid technology leadership of GE Energy that makes the GE net zero energy
home an exciting prospect for our future growth," said GE Consumer & Industrial
President and CEO James Campbell.

The GE net zero energy home offerings will be comprised of three major groups
within the product portfolio: energy efficient products, energy management
products and energy generation/storage products.

Energy Efficiency Products: GE`s portfolio of energy- efficient appliance and
lighting products will help enable the net zero energy home by reducing energy
consumption in the home.

* In 2008, the number of GE ENERGY STAR qualified appliance models totaled over
550 models. In fact, 54 percent of the GE appliance products are ENERGY STAR
qualified. The number of ENERGY STAR qualified lighting models totaled over 271.
The majority, 99.3 percent, of the 2008 GE Compact Fluorescent lamp sales were
ENERGY STAR qualified models.
* The U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
have awarded GE Consumer & Industrial the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence award
for the fourth straight year. Also, this marks the sixth year that GE has been
acknowledged as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year.

Energy Management/Demand Response Appliances: GE demand response products will
enable consumers to manage their costs and energy consumption while helping
reduce utility demand peaks, thereby reducing the need for more power generation
- depending on utility participation.

* GE plans to be the first manufacturer to offer a full suite of demand response
appliances that will work with utility smart meters to help shed load from the
grid, while helping consumers save money during peak demand usage and pricing
times. GE appliances and products will work with smart meters to delay or reduce
energy use without major interruption to consumer`s lifestyles by giving the
consumer control over their energy use.

Residential housing consumes 37 percent of the electricity produced in the US.
Appliances, Lighting and HVAC represent 82 percent of electricity consumed in
the home. A recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission report has identified
that residential demand response programs represent the largest potential
reduction in U.S. peak demand. The potential of residential demand reduction
programs represents approximately a 7 percent reduction in total US peak demand,
or 65 GW over the period 2009-2019. This avoided demand is equivalent to the
generation capacity of 108 coal plants (600 MW typical coal plant).

* As the second single largest energy users in the home, incorporating highly
efficient water heaters into the net zero energy homes is critical. GE will
offer the its innovative GE Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater with demand
response technology in late 2009. The new GE Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water
Heater is designed to use about 2300 kWh per year, which is less than half of
the energy of a 50-gallon tank water heater that uses approximately 4800 kWh per
year. The energy savings of approximately 2500 kWh per year represents a savings
of about $250 per year based on 10.65 cents per kWh. In addition to the highly
efficient Hybrid, GE plans to develop additional innovative water heating
options for the Net Zero Energy Home.

Example: There are about 60 Million U.S. homes with electric tank hot water
heaters, if 10 percent installed a GE Hybrid Heat Pump Water Heater, this would
save 15 Billion kWh annually of energy. In addition, the demand response
capabilities of the GE Hybrid during peak demand time could reduce the energy
consumption associated with the 6 Million units by as much as 22.8 Gigawatts or
the equivalent of reducing the generating capacity of 40 coal plants during peak
demand time.

* In 2010 GE will introduce the Home Energy Manager - the central nervous system
for the net zero energy home that will work in conjunction with all the other
enabling technologies in the home to help homeowners to optimize how they
consume energy. In addition to the Home Energy Manger, GE will introduce a line
of smart thermostats, also available in 2010. Together, the Home Energy Manager
and smart thermostats will inform consumers when and how they are using energy
and empower them to make decisions when they should use energy from the grid,
use stored energy, and self generated energy or other sources since up to 31
percent of the homes energy use comes from HVAC, the smart thermostats can help
consumers significantly save on their energy bills.

Example: Based on data from the Olympic Peninsula, Gridwise Test Bed
demonstration project,consumer awareness created by Time of use pricing (TOU) &
Real Time pricing (RTP) has shown significant consumer savings. Consumers under
a TOU/RTP billing plan supported by enabling technologies, such as pricing
communication, a home energy display, smart thermostats, and smart demand
response appliances saved as much as 27-30 percent of their monthly bill.

Brattle report- The power of Experimentation - New Evidence on residential
demand response, May 11, 2008, Ahmad Faruqui, Sanem Sergici

Distributed Generation/Storage

* Collaborating with GE Energy, products like solar PV, advanced energy storage,
next generation thin film solar, small wind - and, in the coming years,
incorporate other generation products being developed at Global Research Center
will play an integral part in the Net Zero Energy Home.

About GE Consumer & Industrial

GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major
appliances, lighting and integrated industrial equipment, systems and services.
Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and residential use in more than
100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies and
ecomaginationSM, a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new
technologies that help customers and consumers meet pressing environmental
challenges, to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical protection and
control. General Electric (NYSE: GE), imagination at work, sells products under
the Monogram, Profile, GE, Hotpoint, SmartWater, Reveal and Energy Smart
consumer brands, and Entellisys, Tetra, Vio and Immersion commercial brands. For
more information, consumers may visit www.ge.com.

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General Electric
Kim Freeman, 502-452-7819
Kim_Freeman@ge.com

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