GE Turning Green; Unplugs Light Bulb Plants

Bowing to market pressure to switch to more energy-efficient lighting, General Electric is shutting down 7 of 54 plants and warehouses that serve its incandescent light bulb operation, reports the Wall Street Journal. Some 1,400 workers will lose their jobs, but only a third of them will be US workers. In two years, GE will have jettisoned 16% of its lighting work force.

The "new" GE will rely less on "traditional" products, according to its president. The lighting business accounted for only 2% of GE's $163 billion in revenues last year. The company will manufacture more compact fluorescent lighting and other energy-efficient lights used in commercial operations to help satisfy increasing consumer demand for energy savings. (More energy stories.)