{"id":14928,"date":"2016-11-16T15:06:09","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T20:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/thriving-cities-ges-bright-idea\/"},"modified":"2016-11-16T15:06:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T20:06:09","slug":"thriving-cities-ges-bright-idea","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/thriving-cities-ges-bright-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Thriving Cities: GE\u2019s Bright Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edison Meet\u00a0<\/em>Light Bulb<\/i><\/p>\n

\"edison\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Souruce: https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com<\/p>\n

General Electric. Thomas Edison. The light bulb. The three have an intertwined history over the 137 years since Edison invented the first commercially practical incandescent lamp1<\/sup>. In that time, GE has grown to be a multinational conglomeration with over 300,000 employees and technological innovations spanning many industries. However, in 2015 this iconic GE product embraced its most radical transformation yet with the creation of Current, powered by GE and Thriving Cities.<\/p>\n

GE Meet LED<\/em><\/p>\n

Our transformation begins with the LED.<\/p>\n

Invented by GE scientists in the 1960’s, light-emitting diodes (LED) are highly energy efficient and have a lifetime 25x existing technology1<\/sup>. Although the initial upfront LED cost may be higher, the total lifetime cost is significantly\u00a0lower. Considering these benefits, GE said goodbye to its compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) business and hello to LED. Literally.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDear CFL,<\/em><\/p>\n

I never imagined this day would come — but I’ve found another. Someone who helps me see my world in a whole new light. You don’t want to hear this, but I need to tell you… I’m in love. I’m in love with LED\u2026. It’s bittersweet to admit that our relationship is over, but I can see clearly now that LED is my future and my future couldn’t be brighter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fondly yours,\u00a0<\/em>GE\u201d2<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n

LED Meet Digital<\/em><\/p>\n

GE recognized the digital transformation available with the LED technology and created an entirely new business model. With this letter, GE announced their commercial lightening business was being spun-off from GE Lightening to create Current, powered by GE.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are Current, powered by GE. We\u2019re a first-of-its-kind energy company, where world-class hardware technology meets unprecedented software technology. We combine GE’s LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle capabilities with our Predix platform to deliver a 21st-century energy ecosystem to customers…Helping our customers reduce, produce, shift and optimize to transform their businesses and lives.3<\/sup>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Current combines LED technology with digital capability to create intelligent infrastructures in a range of applications \u2013 optimized factory, the efficient office, the thriving city and the intuitive store3<\/sup>. This \u201821st<\/sup>-century ecosystem\u2019 is supported by intelligent endpoints and Predix. Intelligent endpoints are devices and systems (sensors, motion detectors etc.) that can be installed into LED fixtures to collect valuable operational or environmental data3<\/sup>. Predix is GE\u2019s cloud-based platform that collects and stores this data for analyzing and optimizing3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Thriving City<\/em><\/p>\n

While the digital lighting applications are diverse, GE\u2019s Thriving City has the most transformation potential.<\/p>\n

\"lightgrid\"<\/a>The transformation began with San Diego, California. The city replaced 3,000 high-intensity discharge lamps (HID) with LEDs equipped with GE LightGridTM\u00a0<\/sup>Wireless Control System (pictured to the right) backed by Predix4<\/sup>. This transformation has three important benefits.<\/p>\n