I bought a floor lamp from Office Depot that says it requires a 150watt bulb (presumably regular). No other information was available besides that.
Being the earth lover that I am, can I instead use a CFL bulb? If so, does the CFL have to be a 150watt equivalent?
More detail: The lamp has no off-on switch, instead you touch the lamp itself and it turns on.
The 150 watt rating means it can take safely take a pull of that kind of power. Put a regular 150 watt bulb in a lamp rated for 40 watts and things might melt. Things including parts like the lamp, the bulb holder or the wiring. Put a 40 watt bulb in a lamp rated for 150 and nothing interesting will happen, it’ll just be dimmer.
Turning the lamp on and off will work fine as well. Unless you’re touching the bulb itself and CFLs are somehow insulated from the rest of the lamp.
A “150W” CFL will actually draw around 40W. Most CFLs are rated in equivalent incandescent watts - in other words, if a 150W incandescent lamp emits 2,000 lumens, then a 40W CFL that emits the same amount of light will be rated as “150W.”
So, your fixture will have no problem with the power dissipation.
However, the touch switch may not work correctly. CFLs generate electrical noise, which may interfere with it’s operation. You will have to try and see.
I googled a bit and found this at http://www.touchandglow.com/ABOUT-US-s/29.htm
So older switches won’t work. The only way to find out is, as beowulff said, try it. If you can find a part number or something on the switch itself, try googling it. Or the store might know.
P.S. I show the OP as posted at 12:28 PM Chicago time. It’s 2:13 PM as I post, and the OP already showed up in the Google results!