His Bright Idea: Dominate Energy-Saving Light Bulbs

By KATHRYN KRANHOLD December 27, 2007; Page B1   
Aurora, Ohio
How many light-bulb makers does it take to change four billion U.S. sockets to compact-fluorescent lights? Ellis Yan says it takes just one: TCP Inc., the largest manufacturer of the energy-efficient bulbs sold in the U.S. -- and, not coincidentally, the company Mr. Yan owns.

The China-born Mr. Yan, who moved to the U.S. in 1979, has four factories in and around Shanghai that produce more than one million compact-fluorescent bulbs a day. Most are shipped to the U.S. and sold under private labels by Home Depot Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers. General Electric Co. and Siemens AG's Osram Sylvania also resell TCP fluorescent bulbs under their names, along with manufacturing their own.

 TCP is well-positioned as consumers seek alternatives to traditional incandescent bulbs. Helping to fuel the demand are governments world-wide; in the U.S., the energy bill President Bush signed into law last week will require lighting to use as much as 30% less energy, which will phase out the traditional energy-eating incandescent light bulb. Compact fluorescents use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and are considered the likely initial replacement for most home uses.
That has sales of compact fluorescents, known as CFLs, soaring. About 200 million CFLs were sold in the U.S. in 2006, up about 50% from the prior year. Incandescent-bulb sales fell 10% last year to about 1.5 billion bulbs, according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. Mike Deneen, a senior analyst with market researcher Freedonia Group Inc., Cleveland, predicts wholesale sales of CFLs will jump to $1.55 billion in 2011 from $415 million in 2006. By 2016, Mr. Deneen says, incandescent bulbs "will be like the eight-track" tape.
Mr. Yan says TCP makes 70% of the CFLs sold in the U.S. Market-share figures aren't available, but rivals concede that TCP is the largest maker of CFLs sold in the U.S., accounting for half or more of the market. GE is the biggest brand-name supplier in the U.S.
The 53-year-old Mr. Yan grew up in Shanghai. As a teenager, he was sent to work on a farm during the Cultural Revolution. He moved to Cleveland in 1979 to live with an aunt and worked as a computer consultant after graduating from college.
In 1986, Mr. Yan started a lighting business here, selling halogen bulbs. He later opened a factory in Shanghai, in a partnership with a local government agency. He enlisted his older brother, Solomon, to run the factory; Solomon Yan now oversees all of TCP's China factories and owns a minority stake in them. Mr. Yan has since bought out his other partners.
When halogen prices dropped amid fierce competition in the early 1990s, Mr. Yan switched to making compact-fluorescent bulbs, a market largely ignored by bigger manufacturers. His first CFLs were circular or U-shaped and required a special fixture. His biggest customers were hotels, assisted-living centers and other commercial outlets.
In 1994, Mr. Yan heard about a factory in Shanghai making spiral-shaped bulbs. He recruited some of the workers to start making spiral bulbs for TCP. Not long after, he brought his new bulb to a big U.S. trade show and displayed it on a folding table. "We tried really hard to push the spiral lamp," he says.
Ed Hammer, who invented the spiral shape at GE in the 1970s, says Mr. Yan quickly understood that the spiral bulbs would emit more light than linear bulbs. "He was the first one to do that," says Mr. Hammer, who now consults with TCP.
Mr. Yan's big break came in 2000 when he was among dozens of prospective suppliers invited to demonstrate products to Home Depot at a baseball stadium in St. Petersburg, Fla. A year later, Home Depot was TCP's largest customer.
CFLs got another boost in 2001, when electricity shortages in California and neighboring states prompted utilities to subsidize the bulbs to reduce electricity demand. CFLs at the time cost roughly $11 each, 20 times the cost of incandescent bulbs.
Today, individual CFLs sell for about half that much. They also last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs and use less energy, making them cheaper in the long run. The bulbs also work better than earlier fluorescents, reaching full brightness quickly without a flicker. CFLs now come in many shapes, sizes and colors that can be used in fixtures such as ceiling fans and chandeliers.
One big drawback: CFLs contain mercury, a toxin and environmental hazard. Inside a fluorescent bulb, a tiny amount of mercury is heated until it turns into a gas that reacts with other gases to produce light. CFLs typically have about five milligrams of mercury; Mr. Yan says some of his smaller bulbs have fewer than two milligrams. He and other makers are working to reduce the amount of mercury. Because of the mercury, fluorescent bulbs are supposed to be recycled, rather than dumped in the trash.
As CFL prices fell and concern about climate change rose, TCP's sales grew, to an estimated $300 million this year from $22 million in 2000. Next year, Mr. Yan projects revenue of $400 million.
One possible drag on TCP's continued growth: The surge in sales is drawing more competition. GE, which introduced fluorescent bulbs in 1938; Sylvania; and others are building up their capacity. GE owns a minority stake in Topstar, a Chinese-government-owned fluorescent manufacturer. Other new manufacturers are popping up in Asia. Bulbs incorporating another energy-saving technology, light-emitting diodes, are projected to reach the home market in as soon as five years.
Mr. Yan, a marathon runner, is involved in every aspect of his business. When managers at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas weren't satisfied with the color of TCP's lights for hotel hallways, Mr. Yan shuttled between the hotel and his China factories to develop a soft-white light, now called the "LV color," for Las Vegas. "He's very passionate about the business, he's passionate about making a difference," says Joe Colant, TCP president.
Marriott International Inc. tested TCP's bulbs against rivals before choosing them in 2000 to use exclusively in guest rooms at more than 700 hotels. Lenny Jachimowicz, vice president of engineering for Marriott's North America lodging, says Mr. Yan and TCP work closely with hotel designers to develop new sizes and colors of bulbs as rooms are renovated. When a bulb burns out before its projected 10,000-hour life, TCP replaces it.
"Ellis's approach is 'Tell us what you need, and I'll go back and make it for you,' " says Mr. Jachimowicz. "He has managed to find a niche in a market that was controlled by" bigger competitors.
Mr. Yan has enlisted several former GE engineers, including Joe Marella, who runs TCP's testing lab. Mr. Hammer, a 45-year GE veteran who retired in 2001, now works with Mr. Yan to try to reduce the amount of mercury used in the bulbs.
Mr. Yan is constantly adding factories and employees in China. Today, he employs about 3,000 "benders," who spend three months learning how to hand-shape the glass into spirals. They sit in rows, taking hot glass into their gloved hands and spinning it around a cylinder. Mr. Yan is starting to automate the process and expects benders will eventually be phased out. To guarantee supply, he bought a glass factory.
Some bulb makers worry about keeping up with demand for fluorescents if incandescents are phased out quickly. Mr. Yan isn't concerned. At his distribution center in Aurora, one wall is temporary to allow for expansion. "Capacity is not an issue," he says. "I don't need anybody else. I can do the whole thing by myself."

Write to Kathryn Kranhold at kathryn [dot] kranhold [at] wsj [dot] com

From: http://online.wsj.com/services/article/SB119871997063451847-search.html?KEYWORDS=%22TCP+Inc.%22&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month

There have been a rash of "red herrings" lately regarding the various "green" technologies. One of them is the concern for the mercury in compact fluorescent bulbs. 

Small quantities if Mercury is used in all types of fluorescent bulbs, and has been for decades.  This includes all the aquarium bulbs, "gro-light" bulbs for plant fixtures, regular fluorescent bulbs, and, of course, all the mercury vapor streetlight bulbs, that have also become so popular for back yard security lighting. (the mercury vapor ones are the ones with the bluish tint to the light.  The ones with the ugly orangey-red tint are the sodium vapor.

So, I am sure that you have heard for decades that the dust from the inside of the broken fluorescent bulb was hazardous/dangerous, and that you should be careful when handling the broken bulb.  Nothing has changed, except not that they are "energy saving CFL's", "somebody" has seen it as their "public duty" to point out that those bulbs contain mercury.

I believe that these are the same sort of dedicated people who insist on pointing out that hybrid cars aren't "worth it".... so why not just go buy a gas-guzzler.... 

Some people are also insisting that solar power isn't "worth it" too... so keep those coal plants coming.... 

Some of these people have been pointing out the birds being killed by wind turbines as the reason why we shouldn't be developing wind power.... so keep those nuclear power plants coming!!!

I don't know who these people are.  Perhaps they are the unemployed spin-doctors that the Tobacco lobby used for so many years to convince us that tobacco doesn't cause cancer.  Probably some of them are currently employed in the dis-information campaign currently popular about global warming.

I guess my Mother's advice is still valid.... "don't believe everything you read in the paper", and believe even less of what you see on TV.

Wal-Mart, Manufacturers to Lower Mercury Content in CFLs
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 05.14.07
Business & Politics
When it comes to affordable energy-efficient lighting solutions, compact fluorescent bulbs clearly shine. The recent uptick in debate about their mercury content, even when overblown, may have dimmed the enthusiasm of some consumers, however. On Thursday, Wal-Mart announced that it has been working with manufacturers to lower the mercury content in all CFLS that it sells. According to the Houston Chronicle and the company's press release, Wal-Mart partnered with GE, Royal Philips, Osram Sylvania and Lights of America to create CFLs that contain mercury in amounts lower then the 5 mg standard set by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) earlier this year. Specifically,

• GE committed to reduce mercury in its CFLs by "up to 50 percent from NEMA levels in new products, while maintaining the excellent light quality and long life that GE customers expect."
  
• Osram Sylvania committed to 4 mg or less mercury in all of its CFLS by the end of 2007, and 2.5 mg or less by the end of 2008.
  
• Lights of America has also committed to a reduction of up to 50%, and claims that it has developed a new technology (in light of Wal-Mart's standards) that uses "a different metal alloy technology that improves bulb performance while requiring less mercury per bulb." The company expects that by year's end, none of its CFLs will contain more than 2 mg of mercury.
  
• Philips' use of pellet dosing instead of liquid mercury already puts their bulbs (25 watts or less) at 40 to 60 percent below the NEMA standard, but the company committed to continue to look for ways to lower the amount of the substance.
  

With its stated goal of selling 100 million CFLs in a year's time, Wal-Mart clearly had to get on top of the mercury issue. In addition to announcing its own plans, it also included EPA statistics in its release that show an incandescent bulb powered on coal-generated electricity creates 13.6 mg of mercury emissions, while a CFL will create only 3.3 mg. Even when the mercury in the bulb itself is added in, CFLs win on the amounts of this heavy metal potentially released into the environment.

We've got to give the company credit again: it could've simply released the EPA statistics to put the mercury issue into perspective. For those still wondering how to safely dispose of burned out CFLs, Lamprecycle.org provides a list of US and Canadian companies that accept bulbs with mercury for recycling. Maybe Wal-Mart can also help get the word out on this... ::Houston Chronicle via linton at Hugg and PR Newswire

From: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/walmart_mercury.php