Technological "firsts" provided safe drinking water and rainwater recycling at the National Stadium
LONDON, United Kingdom --- October 29, 2008 --- GE, a worldwide partner of the Olympic Games, announced that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were its most successful in history, having contributed to more than 400 infrastructure projects in and around Beijing to help the host city prepare and deliver the biggest Games ever.
The company, which has been providing technology to support the Olympic Games and other major sporting events for more than 70 years, managed projects in all 37 official Beijing Games competition venues and 168 commercial buildings in and around Beijing. Several projects featured technological "firsts" for China, including filtration technology for safe drinking water and rainwater recycling at the National Stadium ("Bird's Nest"), 73 electrical substations to provide power at more than 50 Olympic Games venues, and advanced baggage screening at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Additionally, GE supplied 120 wind turbines to the Zhangbei and Shangyi wind farms north of Beijing, which supplied energy to the Olympic Central Area.
"GE is uniquely positioned to deliver a variety of critical technology solutions for Olympic host cities," said Jeff Immelt, Chairman & CEO, GE. "The company has been active in China for more than 100 years and we are proud to have worked so closely with the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee and other partners to help prepare the country for the world's largest sporting event."
GE technologies were front and centre in some of the most high-profile Olympic Games competition venues in and around Beijing, including the Bird's Nest, National Aquatics Centre ("Water Cube"), National Indoor Stadium and Wukesong Baseball Field. Throughout the city, GE supported municipal projects and facilities, including energy distribution systems at the Beijing Power Supply Bureau, Beijing Subway Line 4 and Beijing Capital International Airport.
"GE's contributions to the building of the Beijing Games provided significant support in transforming the city of Beijing," said Gerhard Heiberg, Chairman of the International Olympic Committee Marketing Commission. "Through its projects ranging from city infrastructure to water treatment, GE helped to ensure that Games facilities operated smoothly for athletes, spectators and media."
Ecomagination - Building a Sustainable Olympic Games
In line with ecomagination, a company-wide initiative to develop and market technologies that help customers address pressing environmental challenges, GE provided solutions for multiple clean energy projects in areas surrounding Beijing. GE supplied 120 wind turbines to the Zhangbei and Shangyi wind farms north of Beijing, which connect to the North China Grid and supply 180 megawatts of sustainable energy for Tianjin, Tangshan and Beijing. The wind farms can power nearly 400,000 average Chinese households per year, the equivalent of eliminating more than 400,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in China, supporting the country's goal of a "green" Olympic Games.
In addition to providing two different water treatment technologies to the National Stadium, GE provided reverse osmosis membrane technologies for the Tangshan Nanpu Waste Water Reclamation Project, located east of Beijing in the North China Plain. The plant produces more than 93,000 tonnes of treated water each day, enough to fill 37 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and the water will support industrial operations of the Tangshan Nanbao Economic Development Zone. GE water filtration technologies were also in place at the Qinghe Waste Water Recycling Project to process 80,000 cubic metres of waste water per day to be recycled for landscaping purposes during the Beijing Games.
Looking ahead to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, GE water filtration technology is already in place at the Nordic Village and at Vancouver Convention Centre, home of International Broadcast Centre. The technology will clean water from within the building and reuse it for flush fixtures and to irrigate a new six-acre rooftop garden. Additionally, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Canadian National Railway (CN), Canada's national railways, are using GE Evolution Locomotives for rail transportation in British Columbia and across the country to increase locomotive efficiency and reduce air pollutants.
GE Water & Processing Technology - Leaving a Legacy in China
In May 2008, GE donated two advanced water treatment systems to provide clean drinking water for more than 60,000 Chinese residents in Dongguang City and surrounding villages. Dedicated as a gift to the people of China, the systems are designed to help promote human health with clean, sustainable potable water. Working in partnership with the Ministry of Water Resources in China, GE is installing a full-scale water treatment plant in Dongguang City this year and supplying a mobile water treatment plant that will purify water for neighbouring villages. This is the first time that an advanced mobile water treatment system is being used in China to bring clean water to areas that are not within reach of the nation's centralised municipal water infrastructure.
GE Healthcare - Cutting-Edge Research Providing Insight into Athlete Health
GE Healthcare is working with medical leaders in the Olympic Movement to advance the use of innovative medical imaging technologies to provide insight into athlete health and benefits for the general public. GE is continuing its ground-breaking cardiac and musculoskeletal research studies of Olympic athletes which began prior to the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The research is aimed at demonstrating that early intervention and health monitoring leads to injury prevention and enhanced health and sports performances for athletes. GE Healthcare also provided leading ultrasound, MRI and ECG technologies to the Beijing Games. GE technologies were used at the Olympic Village General Hospital, which served more than 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries, as well as by team doctors from the U.S, China, Italy, France and Spain to care for Olympians during the Games.
For the Vancouver Games, GE Healthcare is providing a 64-slice CT scanner to Whistler, the official Alpine Skiing venue, and the Sea to Sky Region. It marks the first time this technology will be available to residents and visitors in the region.
GE Olympic Games Sales Incentives
As an extension of the company's Olympic Games sponsorship, GE developed a global sales incentive programme targeting its more than 40,000 salespeople worldwide, which has resulted in over $190 million in revenue growth for the company in 2007 and 2008. Through a simple digital framework, sales teams anywhere, from Brazil to China, can develop customised Olympic Games-themed sales incentive programmes for employees and distributors.
NBC Universal
Seven NBC Universal networks --- NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen and Telemundo as well as NBCOlympics.com -- presented more than 3,600 hours of Beijing Games coverage, making it the most ambitious single media project in history. The 3,600 hours was 1,000 hours more than the combined total of every televised Summer Olympic Games in U.S. history, dating back nearly 50 years to Rome in 1960. Over the 17 days of the Beijing Games, NBCU's coverage averaged more than 212 hours per day. The Beijing Games broadcasts included the most live coverage ever of a Summer Olympic Games, despite the 12-hour time difference between the U.S. East Coast and China and, for the first time, the entire Olympic Games was broadcast in high definition. On NBCOlympics.com, viewers had access to approximately 2,200 total hours of live streaming Olympic Games broadband video coverage, the first live event coverage ever on the site.
On the Web
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com. GE is Imagination at Work.
Greg Farrett
GE Corporate Executive Director - Communications
[email protected]
+32-2-235-6912