Robert Green wrote:

The reports of CFL penetration say time and time again that people
who try them and have issues like a smoky, stinky burnout are much
more reluctant to try them a second time. My wife hates both the
occasional very spectacular stinky burn-up and the frequent
flickering and has had me stock up on incandescents for her sewing
room and all the hallway and critical short on/off time lights that
never last as long as the makers claim.

We installed CFLs everywhere in our home four years ago when we completely
rewired the house, and so far the only complaint we have is the supposed
five-year life of these lights is problematic--some originals are still
going strong, others only lasted a year or two--quality control in mfg. I
suppose. But we've had no "stinky burnout" and the only flickering we've
seen is on some outdoor floods used in security fixtures. What we did
immediately notice was a significant reduction in our electricity bill. Our
local hardware store and community center both collect CFLs (and batteries)
for proper disposal, so getting rid of dead ones is no problem.

I expect LED lighting to come on strong, we've even noticed LED
stage-lighting in nightclubs lately. But so far we're pleased with CFLs,
and since we don't just toss them in the trash when they're dead hopefully
the mercury in them isn't finding its way into the environment (although I'd
like to know more about how the CFLs we leave at the hardware store are
disposed of).