Mapping out key breakthrough technologies and the brilliant people behind them

At GE, we know that solving the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges across energy, health and flight start with our people. Our employees are innovating breakthrough technologies that will be the key to meeting global decarbonization commitments, enabling precision health, and creating a smarter and more efficient future of flight. In celebration of Earth Day, I am proud to highlight a few of these technologies and, importantly, the GE innovators helping build a world that works. Learn about them below, and check out this?new, global interactive map to see how we are accelerating breakthrough energy technologies for a lower-carbon future.

Small modular reactors (SMRs)?are at the forefront of the energy transition, and GE Hitachi's?Lisa McBride is spearheading innovations that expand SMR capacity. She leads a diverse workforce that is helping Canada become the first global center of excellence for this technology. And as President of Women in Nuclear (WiN) Canada, she is promoting career interest in nuclear among women and young people. With Lisa's help, advanced nuclear technologies will continue to provide carbon-free electricity generation into the future.

GE's 'Fuel Guy,'?Jeff Goldmeer , is an expert on producing energy from the most efficient gas turbines in the world. Jeff is working to reduce carbon emissions while still meeting increased energy demands, using?hydrogen as a gas turbine fuel?to support low or near-zero carbon power generation. You can hear more about Jeff's work on the future of energy by listening to him as co-host of GE Gas Power's "Cutting Carbon " podcast.?

Jeremee Wetherbee is working hard at GE Gas Power to advance?carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS)?technologies and to build industry-wide partnerships with the goal of decarbonizing gas energy production in the northern Appalachian region. Though natural gas power plants already emit 60% less carbon than coal-fired power plants,?Jeremee's?work on CCUS technology can help reduce those emissions even further.

David Torrey is a senior principal engineer at GE Research, where he's leading the wind turbine team that is using?superconducting generators?to build turbines with no need for rare earth materials. Conventional wind turbine generators are powered by permanent magnets, but superconducting wind turbine generators promise to make wind power more efficient, more cost effective, and less reliant on rare earths. With David's innovative work, GE is helping accelerate the development of renewable energy around the world.

GE Healthcare’s?Julia Casey ?knows that the future of medicine is about?precision health?and helping improve care for individual patients. She helped lead GE’s acquisition of?Zionexa, a privately held French company developing and commercializing imaging agents that can help doctors diagnose certain cancers and other diseases faster and better. With GE leaders like Julia, we are helping doctors select the right treatment for the right patient.

Working with United Airlines, GE Aviation's?Jeff Shaknaitis ?saw his work come to fruition when a United flight flew from Chicago to Washington, D.C., using 500 gallons of 100% drop-in?sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)?in one engine. The flight showed that SAF, which is made from sources like plant oils, algae, and captured carbon dioxide, does not need to be blended with petroleum-based jet fuel. Thanks to employees like Jeff, GE is helping the aviation industry demonstrate that SAF has the potential to help reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by up to 80% with SAF.?

Rising to the challenge of building a world that works is part of our 130-year history at GE. This Earth Day we're proud to showcase the work that all GE employees are doing to usher in a greener future--a sense of purpose that unites all of us in our mission.