I buy CFL bulbs because I'm forced to- like everyone else. The real killer for me is the failure rate; it's got to be about 20%-30%. I find returning them 4 months later on a bulb that is supposed to last 7 years very difficult. I'm not going to save the receipt and packaging that long. Now I'm stuck with orders of magnitude initial higher costs and a failure rate which pushes the cost even higher- and no place to dispose of the bulbs. They are supposed to be better for the planet; but you can't throw them in the trash. How many people do throw them in the trash? My overall costs vs incandescent bulbs is much higher and worse for the planet. Anyone else come to the same conclusion? Is there a solution I don't know about?