Below is the second half of a Vermont Agency of Natural Resources article. You may want to read the first half of the article if you're interested in a bit of history on flourescent lights.
Many people continue to believe that it takes significantly more electricity to turn on a
fluorescent lamp than to operate the lamp for long periods. Modern fluorescent lamps, however,
use little starting energy. Turning them off actually helps them last longer and lowers lighting
energy costs. Researchers at the U.S. Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory have found that a
fluorescent lamp