Household Fluorescent Bulbs

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer

I vaguely recall hearing, years ago, that turning a fluorescent light on uses up more power than leaving the light on all day.

I think that is a bit of an urban legend. It is funny that my father used to say the same thing. In actuality a Compact Fluorescent bulb does not come up to full power right away.
On the other hand MH lights use more power than they are rated at. I measured my 150W Coralife Aqualight Pro with my new Kill-A-Watt meter using only the MH part. Instead of drawing 150W, it used 192 W. On the other hand my 65W C.F lamps draw only 49W.