Anyway, one bulb that isn’t boring is the humble CFL — it uses one-third to one-fifth of the electricity of a normal bulb. Which is loads.

Sorry to be ‘that guy’ but LED bulbs with equivalent light output use 75% less energy than CFLs (note this is LED bulbs rated by ‘Energy Star’ — which is a US thing, but still…)

Once you’ve decided on a LED bulb, I’d suggest you look for one with a CRI (color rendering index) of 95 or better. As a photographer evaluating prints, I find the light from LEDs rated this way to be about as good as the absurdly expensive print viewing box I’ve got gathering dust.

Then there’s the color of the light. It’s called ‘color temperature’ and rated in Kelvin (I won’t get into why). There’s a good page showing the different color temperatures here. Have a look and you’ll have a better idea of what you want.

FWIW, I have a BIL who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Dark gloomy winters. Sound familiar? He uses 6000+K bulbs as it helps him with his seasonal affective disorder (down moods from lack of blue in the spectrum).

Hoping this helps someone…