One other thing to consider. Around half the electricity in the US is produced by burning coal. This releases huge amounts of mercury into the atmosphere. If one calculates the mercury released to generate the extra 47 watts of electricity(a cfl bulb uses 13 watts vs 60 for the comparable incandescent) for the number of hours florescent bulbs are used in home before one on average breaks times the number of bulbs, then the cfl bulbs are still much less of a mercury threat than power hogging incandescent bulbs. Yes, the world is not perfect, and bright LED bubs for home lighting are not under $1 each (but perhaps in 20 years they might be?).