Honestly, I just use whatever CFLs I can get locally at Lowes or Home Depot(GE, Sylvania, etc). You want 23W bulbs(100watt equiv) - 5000K color temp for veg and then you have to switch to 2700K temp for flower. You'll see the color temp on the package. I think "day" bulbs are 5000K and soft white is 2700K. Figure at least 2 bulbs per plant or somewhere in there. CFLs are nice since you can keep them really close to the plants and they make no heat. You'll have to come up with a fixture for the CFLs to hold them but regular power strips and bulb holders work fine. Just hang them somehow and then thats enough to grow some herb.
CFL is one of the least efficient lights, its like 60lumens per watt.
They do create heat, you just don't notice it because your not using much wattage.
But to grow 4 plants you would need a fair chunk of wattage and that heat will be noticeable , the big difference would be if using 400w of cfl you would get 24'000 lumens, where with a 400w hps 48'000 lumens so for the same power you get the same heat but with the HPS you get twice the light.
If you use good LED strips you can get 180-200lumens per watt and do the same thing as 400w of cfl with 135w of Samsung strips making the whole thing far cooler.
Obviously the OP cant afford to build an LED fixture on $40 but they should be able to pick up a 400w HPS second hand for around that.
I don't doubt CFL grows weed, I actually like the structure a 5000k bulb creates but for anything other than a micro grow its a waste of power and even in a micro grow there are far better options these days.
