Question about interior lighting.

[hollohas]

I have an engineering degree in "Illumination". Seriously, it's a thing.

Anyway, the power usage on start-up on the fluorescent is only a minor part of the equation. The more important part of the equation is that the surge of electricity used to start them up degrades the electrodes inside the lamp and each on/off cycle significantly degrades the life of the lamp much more than just leaving it on.

In other words, a fluorescent lamp that is left on forever actually has a longer life (in hours 'on') than one that is turned on and off excessively.