In article Ibhoe.3219$zT2.1802@trndny04,
"Eric and Megan Swope" writes:
Hi everyone. In my basement, I have a drop ceiling. In the spot where I
have the 2 clear tiles for lighting, instead of fluorescent lights, the
original homeowner pout in light housing for normal screw in light bulbs
that are nailed to the floor joists. The maximum watt light bulb I can put
in these housing is 150 watt. So in my basement now I have 2x150 watt light
bulb illuminating my area. My question is this, what will give me an
overall brighter basement, 2x150 watt light bulbs, or if I buy two
fluorescent worklights, each one holding 2x40 watt fluorescent tubes for a
total of 4x40 watts (I believe the brightest fluorescent tubes are only 40
watts?). I know simple math seems to say the 300 watt total from the light
bulbs would do it, but I would say every 2 months or so one of the 150
watters blows out (we use our basement a lot, so the lights can be on for
hours at a time). Cost of these bulbs isn't a major issue however, the
lighting is more so. Any advice is appreciated.

One 40W fluorescent tube is going to be equivalent to something
around a 150W filament lamp. You can easily lose half the light
in the fitting with filament or fluorescent lamps, so a comparison
of the raw filament lamp verses raw fluorescent tube light output
won't necessarily give you the whole storey -- it will also depend
on the type and positioning of the light fitting.

--
Andrew Gabriel