Well, yeah...but that's more of a general lighting issue. CFLs are much more efficient than incandescents. If you have 6 100 watt incandescent bulbs that you use 3 hours a day, and you replace them with 26 watt CFLs, you're going to save around $3.60 a month (at .09 a kwh). That's nice. CFLs are definitely good for more than growing.

But, really, that's not the issue here. HPS are always going to be more efficient than CFLs, too; sometimes much more so. No matter what, you're going to use more energy using CFLs as grow lights than you will using HPS or MH lights that produce the same amount of lumens. I think you're suggesting that you can make up the amount of energy you use on grow lights by switching over form incandescents to CFLs. Maybe. But you'd save even more by using HPS rather than CFLs.

For instance, in a 2' x 3' grow space, you'd want around 30,000 lumens. There's a 270w Growlux bulb that works in a 250w ballast that puts out 29,000 lumens. That's very close to 5,000 lumens a square foot, enough for a good grow. To get 29,000 lumens out of CFLs bulbs, you'll need over 400 watts..more like 425, in fact. So if you're really concerned with energy savings, switch the incandescent bulbs in your house to CFL, and use HPS for your grow.

Btw...quick and dirty estimate. 250W going 24/0 in veg = 180 kwh in a 30 day month. (250 x 24 hours x 30 days/1000.) At .09 a kwh, that's about $16 a month.
Roughrider Reviewed by Roughrider on . 250w Floralux or 400w system? Hey guys. I'm doing my first grow right now with cfls and I hate it. I'm tired of moving the lights around everyday. I swear I move them every single day cause my babies are moving up fast. I decided I'm going to go ahead and get some better light. I saw that HTG had a Floralux 250 watt HPS/MH system for $229. But today when I went to their site they had a 400w hps/Mh system for $165. Now I like the price of that one. My question to you guys, would the 400w system be overkill for a 3'x2' grow Rating: 5