[Dialogue] Now We Can Shop at Wal-Mart

[Charles or Doris Hahn]

Thanks Cynthia!
We're already committed.  However there are a few
fixtures that we have not found bulbs appropriate for.
It's a simple step, but it's a big step.
Charles
--- FacilitationFla at aol.com wrote:

>  
> The Energy  Challenge 
> Power-Sipping Bulbs Get  Backing From Wal-Mart  
> As a way  to cut energy use, it could not be
> simpler. Unscrew a light bulb 
> that uses a lot  of electricity and replace it with
> one that uses much less. 
> Skip to next  paragraph 
> The Energy Challenge 
> While it sounds like a promising idea, it turns out
> that  the long-lasting, 
> swirl-shaped light bulbs known as compact
> fluorescent lamps  are to the nation’
> s energy problem what vegetables are to its obesity
> epidemic:  a near perfect 
> answer, if only Americans could be persuaded to
> swallow  them. 
> But now _Wal-Mart  Stores_ 
>
(http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=WMT)
> , 
> the giant  discount retailer, is determined to push
> them into at least 100 
> million homes.  And its ambitions extend even
> further, spurred by a sweeping 
> commitment from its  chief executive, H. Lee Scott
> Jr., to reduce energy use 
> across the country, a  move that could also improve
> Wal-Mart’s appeal to the more 
> affluent consumers  the chain must win over to keep
> growing in the United  
> States. 
> “The environment,” Mr. Scott said, “is 
> begging for the Wal-Mart business 
> model.” 
> It is the environmental movement’s dream: 
> America’s biggest company, 
> legendary  for its salesmanship and influence with
> suppliers, encouraging 200 
> million  shoppers to save energy. 
> For all its power in retailing, though, Wal-Mart  is
> meeting plenty of 
> resistance — from light-bulb makers, competitors
> and  consumers. To help turn the 
> tide, it is even reaching out to unlikely partners 
> like _Google_ 
>
(http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/h
> tml-companyprofile.asp&symb=GOOG) , _Home  Depot_ 
>
(http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custom/nyt-com/html-companypr
> ofile.asp&symb=HD)  and Hollywood. 
> A compact fluorescent has clear advantages  over the
> widely used incandescent 
> light — it uses 75 percent less electricity, 
> lasts 10 times longer, produces 
> 450 pounds fewer greenhouse gases from power  plants
> and saves consumers $30 
> over the life of each bulb. But it is eight times 
> as expensive as a 
> traditional bulb, gives off a harsher light and has
> a peculiar  appearance. 
> As a result, the bulbs have languished on  store
> shelves for a quarter 
> century; only 6 percent of households use the bulbs 
> today. 
> Which is what makes Wal-Mart’s goal so  wildly
> ambitious. If it succeeds in 
> selling 100 million compact fluorescent  bulbs a
> year by 2008, total sales of 
> the bulbs in the United States  would increase by 50
> percent, saving Americans 
> $3 billion in electricity costs  and avoiding the
> need to build additional 
> power plants for the equivalent of  450,000 new
> homes. 
> That would send shockwaves — some intended, others
>  not — across the 
> lighting industry. Because compact fluorescent bulbs
> last up to  eight years, giant 
> manufacturers, like _General  Electric_ 
>
(http://www.nytimes.com/mem/MWredirect.html?MW=http://custom.marketwatch.com/custo
> m/nyt-com/html-companyprofile.asp&symb=GE)  and
> Osram  Sylvania, would sell far fewer lights.
> Because the bulbs 
> are made in Asia, some American manufacturing jobs
> could be lost. And  because 
> the bulbs contain mercury, there is a risk of
> pollution when millions of  
> consumers throw them away.  
> Michael B. Petras, vice president of  lighting at
> G.E., concedes that “the 
> economics are better with incandescent  bulbs.” 
> All that has only spurred Wal-Mart to  redouble its
> efforts — and, in typical 
> fashion, it is asking those who may be  hurt by the
> change to help achieve 
> it.  
> During an extraordinary meeting in Las Vegas in
> early  October, competing 
> bulb makers, academics, environmentalists and
> government  officials met to 
> ponder, at times uncomfortably, how Wal-Mart could
> sell more of  the fluorescent 
> lights.  
> The proposals discussed at what Wal-Mart  dubbed the
> “light bulb summit” 
> ranged from the practical (advertise the bulbs on 
> the back of a Coke 12-pack) to 
> the quixotic (create a tax on incandescent bulbs  to
> make them more 
> expensive).  
> Selling 100 million bulbs “is not a slam  dunk by
> any stretch of the 
> imagination,” Stephen Goldmacher, an executive at 
> Royal Philips, the Dutch company 
> that is one of the world’s largest light-bulb 
> makers, told the group. “If this 
> were easy, it would have happened  already.” 
> The attendees did not need to look far for 
> evidence. Wal-Mart had asked the 
> owners of the Mirage Hotel and Casino, where  the
> conference was held, to 
> commit to using the energy saving bulbs in its guest
>  rooms in time for the 
> meeting. The hotel politely declined.   
> It is not alone. Compact fluorescent bulbs, 
> introduced in the United  States 
> with much fanfare in 1979 by Philips  just as the
> nation’s second energy 
> crisis of the decade was getting under way,  have
> never captured the public 
> imagination.  
> The new bulbs — lighted by sparking an  efficient
> chemical reaction, rather 
> than heating a metal filament — were  ungainly,
> took several seconds to light 
> up and often did not fit into  traditional light
> fixtures.  
> Since then, refinements have made them far  more
> convenient to use, reducing 
> their size and price as well. But Wal-Mart sold 
> only 40 million in 2005, 
> compared with about 350 million incandescent bulbs, 
> according to people briefed 
> on the figures.  
> And it would have stayed that way unless  Wal-Mart
> decided to go green. More 
> than a year ago, Mr. Scott, the company’s  chief
> executive, began reaching out 
> to some of environmental groups, telling  them that
> Wal-Mart, long regarded 
> as an environmental offender, wanted to become  a
> leader on issues like fuel 
> efficiency and greenhouse gas  emissions. 
> Mr. Scott viewed such a move as a way to use 
> Wal-Mart’s influence to improve 
> the environment, cut costs and, of course,  burnish
> the company’s bruised 
> image. In September 2005, Mr. Scott and Andy  Ruben,
> Wal-Mart’s vice president 
> for strategy and sustainability, drove 6,000  feet
> to the Mount Washington 
> Observatory in New  Hampshire with Steve Hamburg, an
> environmental studies 
> professor at _Brown  University_ 
>
(http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/b/brown_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org)
> , and Fred  Krupp, 
> the president of the advocacy group Environmental
> Defense.   
> At the summit, where scientists measure _climate 
> change_ 
> (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/t
>
opics/globalwarming/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier)
>  24 hours a  day, the men discussed global warming,
> acid rain, the hole in 
> the ozone layer  and what Wal-Mart could do about
> them. 
> “You need to look at what is being sold on  the
> shelf,” Mr. Hamburg recalled 
> telling Mr. Scott over a  dinner of turkey and
> mashed potatoes. He began 
> talking excitedly about compact  fluorescent bulbs.
> “Very few products,” he said, 
> “are such a clear winner” for  consumers and the
> environment. 
> Soon after returning from the trip, Wal-Mart 
> publicly embraced the bulbs 
> with the zealotry of a convert. In meetings with 
> suppliers, buyers for the chain 
> laid out their plans: lower prices, expanding  the
> shelf space dedicated to 
> them and heavily promoting the  technology. 
> Light-bulb manufacturers, who sell millions  of
> incandescent lights at 
> Wal-Mart, immediately expressed reservations. In a 
> December 2005 meeting with 
> executives from General Electric, Wal-Mart’s
> largest  bulb supplier, “the message 
> from G.E. was, ‘Don’t go too fast. We have all
> these  plants that produce 
> traditional bulbs,’ ” said one person involved
> with the  issue, who spoke on 
> condition of anonymity because of an agreement not
> to 
=== message truncated ===>
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