A federal mandate due to take effect starting in 2012 will begin the slow phase-out of incandescent bulbs. The choices that will remain boil down to three options:
Spiral CFL’s
Traditional Round (A-Shaped) CFL’s
LED’s
It will probably be years before LED’s reach a price that low enough to make them attractive and because they’re still quite new, there are still some bugs to be worked out. Spiral CFL’s are by far the least expensive option but they pose a serious problem when using clip-on shades that were never designed to fit them. Round CFL’s solve that problem but on average they cost about FOUR TIMES MORE than spiral CFL’s of the same wattage.
But there is a solution. It’s called the Magic Toob Lampshade Leveler and it’s designed to permanently fix the poor fit problem for about $1 per lampshade. It uses high temperature silicone tubing to cover any bulb clip and allow it to grip any shape of bulb. You can see a demonstration and find out more at http://www.magictoob.com
Jack