NISKAYUNA, N.Y. — At General Electric's Ecoassessment Center of Excellence, researchers delve deep into GE products, looking for ways to better assess and manage their lifecycle environmental impacts.

The Ecoassessment Center, which has been around since at least June 2008, is part of GE's Global Research technology development division. In the coming months its researchers plan to work with stakeholders on a systematic approach to assessing overall impacts of products, from raw material sourcing to disposal.

The Center has already taken on several projects, including a pilot program with GE Healthcare's global design organization to examine the lifecycle of sophisticated medical equipment, and a look at the impacts of biofuels.

The research from the Center feeds into GE's Ecomagination initiative to improve the performance and impacts of its wide range of products. Launched in 2005 with 17 products, Ecomagination now includes more than 80 products. GE also plans to increase its investment in clean research and development to more than $1.5 billion by 2010; in 2005 it spent $500 on clean R&D.

^{GE stove - CC license by Mykl Roventine}