jeffrey immelt on mit video

Jeffrey Immelt on MIT Video

Jeffrey Immelt is the current Chairman of General Electric. His video

presentation is at the MIT Energy Conference. This is a very good

video and I would encourage anyone to watch it for the unique

perspective and insight that Immelt has. Click on the title for the

url to the video.

Speaking about the difficulties in the energy field, Immelt noted that

"market signals don't fit the time horizons", and I have to agree that

is certainly the case. The three-months time frame that the capital

markets operate within is not enough time for the energy industry to

do anything. And the decades long lead times for satisfying the demand

for energy are two areas where this disconnect happens. With such long

lead times necessary to achieve anything in oil and gas, the markets

always seem at odds.

He also spoke of the "notion that energy is free". This notion that he

speaks of is, I think, is the same concept that makes people expect

they have the right to energy. I hope that we can continue to

experience these rights and entitlements; however, I think that our

future holds occasional energy outages and increased costs.

Immelt noted from his personal experience in traveling to India that

demand for energy from China and India would not stop growing. In

satisfying the needs for energy he states, "This is the time that

technology and innovation can have a value". He felt that coal,

natural gas and oil were going to be as important as they ever have

been. And noted his turbines where operating at 65% efficiency, and

indicated that reducing consumption was an area where much innovation

and savings would occur.

He finished his presentation with two of what he calls "Immelts".

If you want to do something, you have to do something.

and

You want it bad, you get it bad.

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