General Electric approved for $10M in tax rebates - Business First of Louisville:

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The company has taken other measures this year to save About 100 hourly employees took a voluntarhy buyout package onMarcgh 1. They were selected basee on age and service time withthe company. Two days GE closed its second-shift dishwashed production atAppliance Park, eliminating 185 jobs through a voluntaryu retirement option. There currently are 2,100 hourlyh and 2,000 salaried employees at Appliance compared withabout 23,000 at the height of the appliancw business’ success, Freeman Despite GE’s efforts, the appliance business has struggled during the past few yearas as it faced stiff competition from foreign competitords and a downturn in new home construction.
Immeltr announced in May 2008 that he intended tospin off, sell or find a joinft venture partner for the appliance business. But the weakening globaol economy and softness in the appliance business keptbuyere away. By the end of the Immelt said GE would continue to run the business until the economyturns around. Earlier this GE decided to take some of its focus off its Monogra andProfile high-end appliances and concentrate on developing energy-efficien t appliances. The appliances, including watedr heaters, dishwashers, refrigerators and ranges, operate usinvg “smart grid” technology, whicg allows utilities to send signals along power linesto “smart meters.
” The meters relay signals wirelessly to the telling them to operate using less power at times when energu use is high and conservation is In March, Freeman told Businessz First that GE saw tremendous opportunitiew in developing the “smart especially when Congress set asidde $11.4 billion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the developmentf of the nation’s smart-grid power system. GE predicts that by 2016 it will have technologyu in place that would allow a homeowner to use no electricityh from thepower grid.
Instead, appliances and heating and air conditioningf systems would be operater with power from sources such assolafr panels, small wind turbines, natural gas-fired power generatorzs and geothermal wells on or near the The hybrid electric water heaters that General Electric Co. is considering making at Appliance Park use a traditional heatinb element but also absorb heat in ambieng air and transfer it intothe water. The process uses less energg to heat water than traditional electrivwater heaters, GE said in a news The company might make abougt 300,000 of the water heatersz annually at Appliance Park by 2011, according to GE’ s KEDFA filing.
GE has launched production of the water heaterss using aChinese third-party manufacturer, according to the The water heaters are supposed to be on the marketr by the end of the year. GE estimatesa that consumers can save as muchas $250 a year on energyh costs, compared with a traditional electric water heater. Businessw First staff writer John R. Karmanb III contributed to this report.