GE invests in waste-heat power

General Electric has bought the waste-heat power generation business of closely held Calnetix to add to its biogas equipment unit and tap into a market it estimates at $1 billion, writes Bloomberg.

Calnetix Power Solutions makes machines that capture heat from turbines and engines and turn it into electricity, says Prady Iyyanki, CEO of Jenbacher, the GE unit that will operate the business. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

“It's a $1 billion space, so there's money to be made here,” Iyyanki says. The acquisition is part of GE's push into 'green' technology, he says.

The Conservative chairman of the UK parliament's cross-party energy and climate change committee has warned the government against reducing spending on low-carbon technology, saying it would be like "cutting the budget for Spitfires in 1939", reports The Guardian.

Tim Yeo, who was an environment minister in John Major's government, says his committee is speaking out on behalf of environmentalists, who are "holding [their] breath" after indications that the government will slim down commitments to sustainable technology when it announces new four-year spending plans for Whitehall departments in the comprehensive spending review on 20 October.

At a recent appearance in front of Yeo's committee, Chris Huhne, the climate change secretary, said "nothing was safe" in his department.

In a move to provide access to newer, clean and green technologies to SMEs, India industry body CII, Bangalore-based CMTI and Fraunhoffer Institute of Germany have entered into a pact to set up a 'centre of excellence', says Indian Express.

An initiative of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in the Commerce and Industry Ministry, this partnership envisages the setting up of CII-CMTI 'Green and Clean Manufacturing Centre'.

"It will facilitate the process of importing advanced technologies in green and clean to the Indian manufacturing industry from Germany," CII said in a statement.