It's not easy being green.

I bought this new desk lamp that requires a 100 Watt dimmable bulb. To be more eco-friendly, I have been using compact flourescents exclusively. So I went online to 1000 Bulbs (dot com!) and found several of various types that met my requirements, ranging in price from $12+ to $50+ per bulb. Since they seemed practically identical in all technical specifications, I opted for the least expensive. Until I got to Checkout and found that it would cost me $9+ to ship the $12+ bulb. So I clicked Delete and went instead to Billows Electrical Supply; they had none in stock but found what I needed in their catalogue for $20+. I told them no thanks, figuring I would wait until I needed a few more CFLs, then order online as I had been doing, thereby diluting the per bulb shipping cost. But after I left Billows, I decided that I really should make sure the new lamp (also purchased online!) was working properly. So I returned and, purely as a temporary measure, bought an old-fashioned inefficient 100 Watt incandescent bulb (I discovered that they're all now 95 Watts--just like my "half-gallon" of Rocky Road that contains only 3 pints!)--for 47 cents! I do try to do my part to help save the planet--but JEEZ!? (I don't even want to think about the gasoline consumed on my Billows excursion, but I fear that my carbon footprint may have grown a half-size today.)