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Originally Posted by Ianto.W.
this type of bulb or lighting is cheaper to run providing you use them in the correct manner IE switch them on and leave them on, all flourecent lighting is expensive to 'start up', if you are going to continualy switch them on and off, they are neither cheap or convenient but a darned pest as the 'warm up time is too long.
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I am not sure if that was ever the case, even with old fittings or if it always was an old wives tale. I will quote some info I found to save me typing it all in:
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It is a popularly held belief that fluorescent lights (including CFL's) use a "lot" of energy to get started, and thus it is better not to turn them off for "short" periods. There is an increase in power demand when a light is switched on, and the exact amount of this increase depends on the type of ballast and lamp. The ballast provides an initial high voltage for starting the lamp and regulates the lamp current during operation. This relatively higher "inrush" current lasts for half a cycle, or 1/120th of a second. The amount of electricity consumed to supply the inrush current is equal to a few seconds or less of normal light operation. Turning off fluorescent lights for more than 5 seconds will save more energy than will be consumed in turning them back on again.
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