Two From Fast Company - CFLs and Jeff Skoll

I have to recommend 'Fast Company' magazine for those interested in a "mainstream" business magazine that is not typical. Each month's issue never disappoints. Articles are well-written, yet written for those with a short attention span. This month's issue's focus is on companies that provide outstanding customer service. While the articles dedicated to that topic are worth reading, the two I have posted below are not a part of the issues current focus.

I have heard for years from my father the energy saving benefits of flourescent lightbulbs. Lately, due to more attention being paid to global warming and energy savings, compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs) are being mentioned and recommended more often. It was one of the steps recommended by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth. They were even mentioned in an undergraduate business class that I serve as a TA for the other day.

The article in 'Fast Company' about CFLs titled, "How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change the World? One. And You're Looking At It." details the the amazing energy savings users of CFLs can expect to see. There are currently three levels of CFLs put out by GE, Philips and Sylvania - they are rated to last 8,000, 10,000 or 12,000 hours. This means that, with an average daily usage of four hours, each CFL would last 5.5 years to 8.25 years. Put another way, each CFL would last through the normal use of six, eight or ten traditional incandescent bulbs. The article gives more specifics in terms of what that might mean in terms of savings on ones energy bill, but it also illustrates what the difference in the number of bulbs used means in terms of the number of bulbs thrown out to landfills each year.

The interesting secondary focus of the article is that Wal-Mart has set a goal to have every one of their customers buy one CFL. That means their goal is to sell 100 million bulbs next year. Assuming traditional bulbs last about a year or so, that is 100 million bulbs NOT bought next year and NOT discarded to landfills. Over the next 5.5 to 8.25 years, that is a lot of landfill space (and energy) saved. Wal-Mart has negotiated with GE to lower the price on CFLs. The expanded use of CFLs means that GE's overall lightbulb business would be hurt, but if they weren't working with Wal-Mart, another manufacturer would. Besides, it's consistent with their "Eco-magination" campaign.

One important point not touched on by the article is a negative environmental aspect to CFLs - the fact that each one relies on a touch of mercury to work as it does. When the CFLs are discarded, mercury can be released if they are not disposed of properly.

The other article from this month's 'Fast Company' I want to highlight is "Moving Pictures", an article about Jeffrey Skoll and what he's done since leaving eBay (a company he cofound). He started Participant Productions, the film company that released Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, and An Inconvenient Truth. Skoll's philanthropic efforts exemplify the social-entrepreneurship movement, "which combines the best of the business and nonprofit worlds."

Participant Productions is the first film company whose mission is to make a social impact through story telling. The article mentiones two more important projects that Participant is a part of - one is the future release of Fast Food Nation, which is based on the book by Eric Schlosser. The other is something that Skoll did in the Middle East in the Spring of 2005. He had Gandhi dubbed into Arabic and held showings in Palestinian refugee camps. His goal is to show a million people in the Arab world the story about a hero of nonviolence.

It's a very interesting article about someone who is truly making a difference by using his business know-how and a great deal of his own resources.