Samsung has said they plan to invest $21 billion USD into new businesses such as solar cells, LED tech and even bio-pharmaceuticals.
The statement adds that the investment will help develop five new businesses for the company, add 45,000 jobs, and add $40 billion in additional revenue by 2020.
“Governments around the world are now investing in green industries to address the issues of depleting energy resources and the protection of our planet’s environment, which present pressing challenges to the global community,” Samsung added in their prepared statement.
About 25 percent of the investment will be for solar cells “using crystalline silicon technology and thin film technology.” Another 20 percent will be invested in rechargeable batteries for hybrid vehicles. An even larger chunk, around 35 percent, will be invested in LED technology ranging from TV back-lights to outdoor lighting.
The rest will be split between bio-pharmaceuticals and electronic healthcare equipment, says Samsung, which is currently a leader in the HDTV, mobile phone and chip markets.
Result for: lighting
GE has launched a new lightbulb this week, one that uses LED technology instead of compact fluorescents and that has a life expectancy of 17 years. The catch? The bulb costs $50 USD.
The new bulb uses only 9 watts and “provides a 77% energy savings” while lasting up to 25 times longer than a current 40-watt CFL (compact fluorescent).
The bulb is dubbed the GE Energy Smart LED Bulb, and will work in any normal incandescent socket.
The U.S. government recently passed new lighting efficiency standards, meaning 100-watt incandescent bulbs will soon be phased out (starting in 2012), with 75-watt bulbs getting phased out in 2013, and 60 and 40-watt bulbs getting the boot in 2014.
Result for: lighting
Hewlett-Packard is taking heat this week after a video released on YouTube shows an internal problem with HP webcams, the fact that the camera has difficulty in recognizing black people.
The video shows two people, a black man named Desi and a white co-worker, Wanda. The problem is the webcams face recognition software, which in the video clearly does not work with Desi in the frame but works excellently with Wanda on screen.
HP says the problem is with low contrast in low lighting situations and they are working to fix it as soon as possible.
