In November, WinFlex, a wind-power company based in Kiryat Yam, Israel, received one of the most coveted prizes in the GE Ecomagination Challenge for developing a wind-turbine system that uses a light, flexible cloth sheets made out of composite materials as the rotor system for a wind turbine.

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Ecomagination also means selling more windmills, a controversial business where GE pushed itself into second place behind Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems by buying an Enron unit in 2002.

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GE's history, many environmental campaigners have been understandably sceptical about Mr Immelt's Ecomagination initiative.

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