GE, a worldwide partner of the Olympic Games, today announced it will provide multiple technologies for China’s first rainwater recycling system. The new system will be located at Beijing’s National Stadium, the setting of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

To date, GE is involved in more than 335 projects overall related to the Beijing Games in the transportation, security, energy, water, healthcare and lighting sectors.

“GE’s contribution to the building of the Beijing Games has been significant in many areas from venue construction to city infrastructure,” said Gerhard Heiberg, Marketing Commission Chairman of the International Olympic Committee. “As a global leader in environmental solutions, GE is helping the Olympic Movement address its goals for sustainable building by implementing many of its clean technologies.”

The National Stadium’s new rainwater recycling system will use underground pools that process up to 100 tons of rainwater per hour, 80 tons of which can be re-used for landscaping, fire-fighting and cleaning — a direct way to lower the stadium’s water consumption. GE’s technology is chemical-free and meets stringent environmental standards for indoor air quality and noise control.

“These advanced water treatment technologies are part of a larger effort to help Beijing implement an environmentally sustainable water management solution during the Games and beyond,” said Steve Bertamini, chairman & CEO of GE in Northeast Asia and China. “GE has been active in China for more than 100 years and we are extremely proud to continue supporting both the Games and China in its effort to adopt solutions that are more green.”

GE is working closely with organizers of the Games to provide industry-leading energy and water treatment technology that is being developed as part of ecomagination, a company-wide initiative to develop and market technologies that help customers address pressing environmental challenges. Since its inception in 2005, GE has 45 ecomagination-certified products in its portfolio with revenues reaching USD12 billion.

“The Beijing Games have helped us deepen our ability to provide complex, project-oriented solutions for our customers,” said Dan Henson, GE’s chief marketing officer. “We have already begun using this same blueprint to address customer needs for other events such as the Shanghai Expo in 2010 and for important projects in other emerging markets.”

Highlights of other key GE projects for the Beijing Games include:

• Supplying filtration technology for safe drinking water at National Stadium - The National Stadium will use GE’s water treatment technology during the Games to provide up to 16 tons of purified water per hour. The quality of the water meets the latest national standards. GE’s water filtration technologies stand out for their environmentally sound features, energy-efficiency and reliability.
  
  
• Helping to power conference and hotel area – Two high-efficiency GE Jenbacher Tri-generation energy units, which operate on natural gases, will be used at the Jing Hui Garden Hotel, a 14-story hotel and conference center that will host media during the Games. Harnessing methane to produce energy is an excellent way of handling emissions of a gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.
  
  
• Delivering energy-efficient turbines at the Olympic Central Area – GE is supplying energy-efficient turbines to deliver power, heating and cooling to the Olympic Central Area. These systems successfully convert fuels such as natural gases into a cleaner burning energy source. The process reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter by more than 60 percent, reduces mercury emissions by more than 50 percent, and reduces sulfur dioxides by more than 90 percent, while using less water than traditional pulverized coal plants.
  
  
• Implementing solar-powered lighting at Fengtai Softball Field – GE’s solar-powered LED street lighting fixtures and field lighting are being used at the Fengtai Softball Field.
  
  
• Providing filtering technology for Qinghe Waste Water Plant – In order to improve Beijing’s waste water treatment capabilities, the waste water plant in Qinghe has adopted technology that will filter more than 80,000 cubic meters of waste water daily to be recycled to maintain landscaping during the Olympic Games. This system is designed to reduce costs and cut energy consumption by up to 30 percent over the next five years.

GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to staging a successful Games. GE works closely with host countries, cities and organizing committees to provide infrastructure solutions for Olympic venues including power, lighting, water treatment, transportation and security, and to supply hospitals with ultrasound and MRI equipment to help doctors treat athletes. In addition, NBC Universal, a division of GE, is the exclusive U.S. media partner of the Olympic Games, with its partnership also extending through 2012.