[link to lewrockwell.com]


If you leave all of the lightbulbs in your house on 24/7, then replacing all of the incandescent light bulbs in your house with CFL light bulbs will save you money. For people that typically leave lights off when not in use, it turns out that incandescent light is cheaper than fluorescent light – the exact opposite of what we have been told all these years.

With a little knowledge, you can stop wasting money on CFLs. Both in the short term and the long term. The long term stuff includes tax issues and the toxicity tie-in which leads to superfund cleanups and medical bills.

In a nutshell:

CFLs do not last as long as is claimed
Many CFLs provide 42% less light than claimed
CFLs put out 20% to 30% less light as they get older
With these three things alone, I will make a rock solid case of how incandescent lights are cheaper than CFL. But there's more:

CFLs are subsidized to make them appear cheaper
the toxicity of a CFL is downplayed
there are better ways to save electricity than fiddling with bulb type
There are incandescent bulbs that are claimed to last longer than fluorescents
There are new incandescents coming out that give off more light per watt

rest at link