Is Edison rolling over in his grave?

[JoeH]

So step up one level brighter, and you will still use 1/3 the energy instead of 1/4. Home Depot was selling a 6 pack for $9.99 the last time I was there. I think the price applied to both 60 W and 75 W equivalents.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

[quote spearmint]The ones I have even though the wattage equivalent is the same are just not as bright.
There are several manufacturers, and some have three or four different spectrum ratings. You should be able to find one you like if you are willing to hunt for a better brand and pay a little more. The 23 W and 26 W (100 W replacement) seem to have the highest efficiency and best color fidelity. http://www.1000bulbs.com/products.php?ca...uorescents

Some manufacturers still have not implemented fast-start ballasts yet so it is still possible to get some that take 3 or 4 seconds to start if you just buy the cheapest ones. I expect most of the complaints like this will be solved once there are some better de facto standards adopted with higher production rates.

[Racer X]

The local Fred Meyer has some that are bright white (maybe 4100K) and some sunlight (5500K) and I tried both out. The sunlight really looked too blue for inside a home, but in a home office for someone who does graphics, might be a good choice. The 4100K bright white ones were a good balance with respect to what they had in stock.

Most cheap ones are 2700K and really yellow, with a touch of green. 3200-3500K would be perfect.

Cheap ones do go bad earlier. And the ones labeled as Energy Star have higher and more consistant output until far into their lifespan. The cheaper ones get dimmer earlier, so your 60 watt replacement starts to act like a 40 watt replacement about a third into their life, and the color starts to shift as well. If it's a porch light, so what. If it is light for a work space, it will matter.

[OWC Jamie]

Unless you live in an area of the country where electricity is dirt cheap, you're paying through the wazoo in monthly energy costs for incandescants now.
It's not the reduced energy that inspired me to replace all the incandescants in my home that it made sense to, it is the reduced tonnage of pollutants spewing from the power utility.
(OK , I'm frugal, I wanted to see just how low my electric bill could go)

Even the cheapest of incandescants don't last very long.

Some of my CFL are now five years old.

Even a pencil can be expensive if you buy a 'designer' one.

[Racer X]

the other added benefit is that for every watt of light, you need a watt of A/C power to cancel it back out.

So, lets say you have 5 300 watt torchiere lamps in a living room/dining room area. You now need 1500 watts of in-window AC power to keep the room a constant temp. With flourescent, you would be about 300-400 watts, which you can ignore.

Another thing. many enclosed light fixtures will say "use 60 watt max bulb" this isn't a power limit, it is a heat limit. You can easily use the 27 watt CF bulbs, and it gets barely warm, and is far brighter.

[Maddog]

Just another thought. The local power company in my area will come out and do a free energy audit of your home if you request it. As part of the service, they will replace your incandescent bulbs with CFL's at no charge. That's right, free. Hard to beat that deal. I recommend you check with your local provider.