the compact flourescents are measured in kelvin, where for example
2700K gives you the soft warm incandescent-like color. higher numbers
give you the cool white.
we now avoid the dollar store bulbs with premature burnout.
the next step in our future will be LED's. right now the replacement
bulbs are pricey and not really ready for the home market.
i predict a big future for the 3 watt and 5 watt luxeon bulbs now in
flashlights.
oudoor seasonal lighting and hallways indoors: since last year we have
been using 100 bulbs to the string use only one watt total LED
christmas lights from a wholesale club at $9.99 a string of 100 in
either christmas colors or white. yes that's only 1 watt of ac for
100 led bulbs, but they appear faint or out in daylight when used
outdoors. the newer brighter style of a brighter LED in limited supply
at walmart gives a more satisfying illumination for a few watts of ac
per 100 bulbs. we are using the new white string at a shadowy outdoor
entranceway for additional illumination to find the door key.
search also for reading at
http://www.energystar.gov/
we are looking forward to using this free software to convert and
compare our electricity KWH to natural gas therms.
http://www.joshmadison.com/software/convert/