True, a lot of bulbs are RARELY on, but in our house the ones that are on are on a long time each day. As we got older, the lights started going on earlier in the evenings. I have not had problems with CFL bulbs. We get the warm color ones. The batch I put in the house we moved to 3 1/2 years ago are still fine. Even the ones in the bath that get flipped on and off much more often.
I don't use them everywhere, such as outdoors and places they might get broken more easily such as the basement and the 'shed' (800 sf), but I tend to use the old 4-foot fluorescent tubes there.
I don't want to be forced to use them. But if I feel they are working well for me, I'll use them. Some folks assume it as their duty to hate anything and everything the gummint forces on them. If they 'made' us eat our favorite foods, there are people (yes, even FReepers!) who would stop eating them and live on lawn clippings and mud.
muawiyah is being literal. Perhaps he could have worded his statement better. "The majority of incandescent bulbs are not on at any given time." As he said; the projections for energy savings was calculated by assuming that all incandescents are on all of the time. That is literally not true and almost the opposite is.
Damn right! If someone makes a decision for you that they lack the moral and legal authority to make, are you NOT obligated by principle to do the opposite of what they mandate?