Of course; it's possible to use those screw-in, dairy-whip style compact fluorescent bulbs in conventional recessed fixtures, and there are also recessed fixtures available that are explicitly designed to make use of pin-type fluorescent bulbs.

Compact fluorescent flood light bulbs are available. They throw off a good light, and they use just a fraction of the power of regular incandescent bulbs, but they cannot be dimmed. There are now also LCD bulbs. They use even less power, but they are very expensive and are of limited usefulness because they throw off a lot of ambient light, they work more like a spot light over a desk or something like that. I would definitely check out the compact flourescent flood lights.

The link is an example of what is available. There are other companies and sizes, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fluorescent recessed dimming & non dimming.

Most of the LEDs out there now are *less* efficient than CFLs.

The screw-in integral reflector CFL bulbs work pretty well.

I just put CFL indoor flood lights in my recessed kitchen cans a few weeks ago and they are GREAT! Gradually replacing all of our bulbs with CFL's as the old incandescents burn out. Only problem will be our 2 fixtures that are on dimmers - haven't tried dimmable CFL's yet.

I recently tried 6 of the Dimmable CFL indoor flood light bulbs for my recessed kitchen cans but they did not live up to expectations for me.

If I'm recalling correctly, they use 15 watts and promised 720 lumens (the box stated them to be equivalent to incandescent 65 watts).

Priced at $$$$$12.95 EACH, at Lowe's, I took them back because they were not even as bright as the 45-watt incandescent floods I was using before!! Instead, I got GE's 50watt halogen bulbs at $7.96. Energy savers Halogens are not, but at least they provide the bright light I need for my dimming older eyes. (My dimmer can only go up to 300 whatchamacallits and I'm using six 50 watt bulbs so can't go to a higher wattage bulb.)

Actually, there are new CFLs for recessed lights and they ARE dimmable. You might have to search around to find them because they are pretty new to the market and cost about $4.00 more.

Thank you all for responding. I was worried that there's no such thing as CFL for can lights. :) Feeling much better now.

If you have a Costco nearby - they hv a 6 pack CFL (65W equivalence) flood bulbs for $15.
I was concern the light output may be too "white" but this one is great.

I cannot find a dimmable CFL for a recessed fixture that is bright enough for me. The ones I've seen, (65W) are so dim. We are bright light people and like to dim to our mood, not start off with dim. If someone finds something dimmable and bright for recessed, please post it.

Since we'll only be using our recessed lights for ambience when we have company, they won't get much use. It's our everyday task lighting that we have CFL's for because we burn them sometimes all day.

We have put CFLs in our recessed fixtures and they hare horrible. Dim, dim, dim - and several have burned out within a month. We are going back to regular bulbs - sorry - it would have been nice to be green, but this is nuts.

OK... one more time...

Greenlite makes a dimmable R40 23w flood. GE also makes one, and has an R30 too.

Contrast lighting also makes a 4" CFL recessed lighting fixture. I have incldued a link!

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Contrast Lighting 4

Dallasbill - Yes, GE has a DIMMABLE CFL (PAR30 flood reflector). However, and like I said above...it starts out dim and stays dim! It is not even as bright as a 45-watt incandescent.

teedup1... OK... let's start over. Up until your last post, you have NEVER said what size you were using, so I quoted some different sizes available.

GE makes a 26w DIMMABLE R40 that is not like a 45w incandescent.

If you want an R30 like that, you have to settle for 15w from GE. Good luck.