well I am very experienced at growing with flouros tube and cfl type.. used tubes for years and now use cfl's, bud room is just over 10ft square and I have a 400w hps and 378w of cfl (9 x 42W)...(7500 lunem per foot square)
my veg. room 312w of cfl (26w X 12) been going for 10 years indoors so please don't tell me I have no experience when you don't know me from Adam...
https://www.rollitup.org/indoor-growing/186981-my-little-friends.html
anyway all the OP was asking was..
how many fluorescent lights would compare to a 1000w pro set up?
answer...a ass load!!! about 48 X 42W cfl to get 134400 lumen.
and would the energy cost be the same?
answer... 1000w = 1000w be it a hps light, cfl light, space heater,toster,ect.ect.ect.ect. only problem is it wont be 1000w of cfl to = 1000w of hps it will be more like 2000w of cfl!!!
and what about the set up cost would it be cheaper for the flurescent lighting?
answer...lets say you can get 42W cfls for $5.00 each... 5 X 48 = $240 in bulbs ..right now there are lots of 1000W hps on ebay for less then $300
as stated in the FAQ...
WHY IS A HID "BETTER" THAN A COMPACT FLUORESCENT?
HID lighting is generally accepted as a better light for growing cannabis for a few reasons...
· It has much better light penetration
· It is much more powerful (higher lumen output)
· It is stronger in light spectrums suited for growing plants
now Im not knocking CFLs in the least I love the damn things, but at this moment in time you will get more and bigger buds from the hps..
why do you think you have never seen a 6000W cfl grow room...it would not produce enough and cost to much...
in simple terms..
small grow (under 400W)> use whatever lighting you wish cfl, hps, mh, led
large grow > use a damn HPS/MH
and something else to think about.. a 1000w hps can go inside a cooltube.... 1000W of cfl cant and if you don't think 1000w of cfl is hot lock your self in a closet with 1000W of them and have someone let you out in 12 hours.. I bet you turn them off before 12 hours is up..lol...