We’ve got curbside collection of some hazardous wastes, here in CA, but they will NOT take fluorescent tubes 4 feet long, or longer. And the stuff they DO take has to be packed in containers that reasonably prevent breakage or spillage.
CFLs can just go in the trash, though I doubt for very much longer. Face it, I’m talking about a Legislature that went to the trouble to make Laws specifically for dealing with the mercury-filled light switches that some automakers installed under the hood and in trunk lids.
I use cFL’s (two of them) in my boy’s bedroom, because they usually neglect to turn off the lights when they leave the room. Other than that, I detest them entirely.
But, other than that I hate the tone and quality of the light they give off, I have some very practical reasons not to use them.
I have some fixtures that they won’t fit into.
I have some lights that are on dimmers, which I’d have to change to use the CFLs.
I have several fixtures, including my dining room chandelier, that take “decorator” bulbs.
If California ever gets down to banning incandescent bulbs, I’ll just bring them in from outta state. It’s THAT simple.
Dealing with CA government is one issue. I don't expect WA to be far behind (esp. as more & more CA libs move up here, but that's another story).
The light "quality" of CFLs has been rather variable. Early ones were not great (as in "wretched"), and we limited those to certain places of the house, sometimes mixed with incandescents. The worst we have still are outside over the woodpile and a "drafting" lamp over my workbench.
A pair in the kitchen (over the sink) have been doing duty for a while, though they're quite slow in starting. Elsewhere we have newer ones, most almost if not instant start. (Slower starts reside in "back" areas).
We also use them in bedside lamps and the like, always under shades. And, like I've said before, we're happy with them -- even though we have two very different sets of color perception in this household. Mine is near typical, but the goodwife appears to be one of those whose green receptors were replaced with red, making her effectively red-green color-blind, but the apparent difference in the wavelength response of her two sets of red receptors makes her VERY sensitive to differences in the colors generally called purple. (The announcement of this discovery this year has ended years of household arguments over color!)
But we too have fixtures into which CFLs won't fit, one dimmer fixture, and several "decorator" fixtures. These all use the same old "light-from-heat" lamps.
I'm not about to dictate what somebody else uses for their lighting, that's up to them, but I like what I'm using and even the eco-nazis aren't saying no to my choices.
I have some fixtures that they won’t fit into.
I have some lights that are on dimmers, which I’d have to change to use the CFLs.
I have several fixtures, including my dining room chandelier, that take “decorator” bulbs.
Well, at least keep up with the work on LED lights. Eventually, that’s going to be the wave of the future. Incandescent bulbs will cost you ten times their purchase price in electricity over 50,000 hours, while LEDs cost very little in their operating costs.
If you installed LED lights where they will work for you, (including, possibly, the candelabra!) on a gradual basis, you may become a convert.
If they get around to TV advertising, LED lights could make a big point by showing a house lit up by LEDs running on a small inverter powered by a car battery. In fact, they offer them in a twelve volt range. If I were building a new house, I would probably put in a twelve-volt lighting circuit just for emergencies.
By the way, LED light bulbs work on dimmer circuits.