>We replaced all light bulbs in our house with Energy Star types, several years ago. They had from 5-7 year guaranties. The ones we used until early last year would last a month or perhaps two at most before failing. We had one explode in a bathroom and emitted a foul order.

In almost every apartment where we were, half of the bulbs were either missing or dead. We bought them as we needed them, and then these cold tubes started appearing. So now we have tubes aged between 2 and 6 years, and so far had only one failure - and it failed softly, first losing brightness, then blinking a for a few days, then developing the gray stains near the ends. They surely were worth the money - in both electricity and replacement cost, because of all the hot bulbs we bought in the beginning, about half never made it through a full year.