Greenbuild nears attendance record

Show organizers at Greenbuild had to be happy with attendance on Thursday, as the aisles were packed most of the day.

Eaton was attracting lots of attention at its booth with an electric vehicle charging station and GE personnel at Greenbuild said the WattStation electric vehicle charger was attracting plenty of questions at the show. One GE public relations exec jokingly said she could have sold several million of them on Wednesday.

During an exclusive interview with Electrical Marketing, Luis Ramirez, CEO, GE Industrial Solutions said one of the biggest challenges in the market today for GE and its distributors is meeting the changing information needs of new employees. He said the generation that's retiring now depends on different modes of communication than young employees just getting into the electrical business. Ramirez said they rely on social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to get information, and that GE and its distributors need to communicate with them in these formats.

Also at Greenbuild is WESCO Distribution, Pittsburgh, Pa., which used the show to promote its renewable products. The Windtronics wind turbine that it now sells seemed to be attracting the most attention in its booth. This smaller scale turbine is designed for homes and businesses and does not need to be mounted on tall towers.