EDEN PRAIRIE, MN – GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services' chief marketing officer, John Righini, presented strategic approaches to incorporating "green" into a company's business model at the fifth annual E3 2008, the Midwest's premier energy, economic, and environmental conference.

The E3 2008 conference, presented by the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment (IREE), focused on what can be done to reduce dependence on nonrenewable, fossil-fuel based sources of energy and products. The conference attracted more than 700 attendees including renewable energy researchers and business/industry leaders from Minnesota and throughout the nation.

Righini shared with conference attendees GE's ecomagination business initiative that delivers products and services to help customers balance environmental and economic goals. Promoting clean, renewable sources of power such as wind and solar, reducing emissions in power generated from fossil fuels, accelerating advancements in hybrid technology to drive cleaner transportation alternatives, and offering more energy-efficient product alternatives are all part of the solutions GE is driving through ecomagination. The company will double investment in R&D for cleaner technologies from $700 million in 2005 to $1.5 billion in 2010.

Righini went on to illustrate how GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services' Environmental Performance solution helps customers with commercial car and truck fleets reduce operating costs while also reducing CO₂ emissions.

"Utilizing technology, like GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services' telematics solution, to monitor, manage, and optimize vehicle assets can result in significant savings in fuel consumption helping to lower dependence on nonrenewable oil sources while boosting operational performance," said Righini. "In addition, implementing a telematics solution allows our customers to gain visibility into the location, condition and use of their vehicles to lower operating costs, CO₂ emissions, and downtime while improving safety, utilization, and compliance."

"A fleet of 500 service vehicles could achieve $5.8 million in labor, fuel and operational savings per year. In a financially-strained economy, these savings represent significant benefits for our customers," he added.

E3 2008: The Midwest's Premier Energy, Economic and Environmental Conference was held Nov. 18, 2008, in St. Paul, Minn., and is presented by the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, a signature program of the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment. Proceeds from the conference help fund University of Minnesota scholarships that support students interested in pursuing renewable energy and environmental causes.