It doesn't violate any law of physics. The only law it seems to be breaking for you is the conservation of energy, which I believe you have a very basic understanding of. HID lighting will create more heat and INTENSITY of lighting for every watt used but fluorescents will create better QUALITY of light. This means that the spectrum of visible light from a HID will be generally lower than a fluorescent, however, the intensity of the HID will be higher at (a) specific wavelength(s). You're missing the fact that HID and fluorescents work in a very different matter and cannot be compared head to head. I do mean no offense by my explanation, and I hope you learn something.
-Lay