The power strip idea is a good one! I will have to set that up for my desk area in the RV.

There was a huge news story not that long ago (a few months?) about how CF light bulbs actually are not a good idea - yet. They are unregulated, don't save as much as people were originally led to believe, most come from China and do not last longer than a year, hence the extreme price drop. They also said they contain mercury and cannot be thrown away, you have to take them to a special facility to get recycled or properly disposed of. They said they should be regulated and problems fixed within a few years, but not as of yet.

I've had CFs that have lasted for 16 years, no kidding. And I can vouch they save me a ton of money.

What brand do you use Jilly? I've yet to have one last that long. I must confess I don't like the light the CF bulbs throw out and in some areas where I read I still use incandescent bulbs.

Kathy

I use different brands - usually whatever is on sale at dollar stores or home depot type places.

I did some investigating at my local landfill and they admitted florescent bulbs do have some mercury in them. So you are right, it's not a totally perfect solution.

Maybe going to LED bulbs will be the new best answer.

Our CF bulbs last a HUGE amount of time, we love them. We are pretty much all converted over.

I feel all bulbs should be recycled "properly" so I am really glad that these new bulbs are forcing the issue.

I can't have CFs in the RV, since the fixtures are for very specific incandescent bulb sizes.

I have heard of people converting their RV sockets to LED lighting, however, which uses a minute fraction of the energy used by incandescents. I will have to investigate this at some point. I hear the transfer is a lot of work and can be costly. Still, I'd like to do it, esp once we have solar panels here.

Yes definitely I think that LED lights are the next step!

I was just seeing that there are a wider array of CF bulbs available than before. Maybe some are small enough to be used in my RV? I can check it out but i doubt they have gotten that small yet.

LED bulbs are small, but from my studies transitioning over is not a simple fix. Apparently this is something for an electrician. I want to do this, but wonder how long it would take for the changeover to pay for itself.

In the meantime I think i will look into small sized CFs just to see if they are available.

has anyone transitioned over to LED bulbs in any area of their house?

I pretty much have moved over to LED only for camping in terms of headlights. And i have a few LED camping lanterns.