In article ,
Timothy Murphy wrote:
Since I am in the presence of such luminous knowledge,
why does one never see very bright energy-saving bulbs -
I mean the equivalent of a 150 or 200 watt standard bulb?

Because they turn out to be rather unreliable. They are available
in the US, but the tube cooks the control gear leading to early
control gear failures, and they are usually restricted to being
operated base down in open luminares, making them unsuitable for
many applications. The highest power rating I've seen in the shops
in UK is a Philips 30W one with ES lampbase at Homebase, which is
probably 120W equivalent. You can find some higher rated ones by
searching mail order specialists.

At the moment, for higher power ratings, you are better off with
a lamp with separate (remoted) control gear so the heat from the
tube doesn't cook it.

--
Andrew Gabriel