I do agree with you though that in a small space with a limited number of plants, that you could be equally better off to go with cfl than you would hid if temps were not the issue, but small space growers are pushed away from hid with the heat issues unless they can counteract it.
NGT I agree with everything you say here, but people have to select the most appropriate system to their circumstances. For someone growing out 40 or more plants - HID is really the only way to go - it's the most cost effective solution.
For those growing in closets etc the decision becomes a much more difficult one and is not as straight forward at all, at least not as straight forward as many people on here would have you beleive.
I also don't hide the fact that I get very annoyed when I see people say things like CFL's HIDS? HPS is the ONLY way to go! The fuck it is.
This is one of the reasons why I'm very keen on doing this and I'm supremely confident of kicking the ass of the vast majority of people using HIDs in terms of yield per sq foot and yield per watt and cost per watt of electricity.
What do I base this on? Mostly from what I've seen of peoples yields and HID wattages - they're not maximising their yields - in fact, they're not even nearly maximising their yields.
People with 600w HPS/MH's systems should be pulling in a minimum of 0.5 gram (dry) per watt of lighting used, and ideally 1 gram per watt - how many on here are achieving that, or even getting anywhere near it?
Most people will use a 600w HPS in an area of about 4 x 4 foot. That's 16 square feet or 37.5 watts per Square foot. To get 1 gram per watt of lighting used, you're gonna have to pull in 600 grams or just under 22 ozs of dried bud. That's 1.33 oz's per square foot. You'll only be able to flower about 6-8 full size plants in that space - that's 2.75 - 3.66 Oz's per plant.
For me to match that I'd have to pull in 1.33 oz's per sq foot as my flowering area is only 3.75 sq foot, so that's just under 5 ozs total. That's 140 grams, so I couldn't use any more than 140 watts of fluorescents in that space for a total harvest of 140 grams.
140 watts are effectively 6 x 2 foot 24w (144w) linear fluorescents. That's easily achievable in a SOG grow using clones and linear fluorescents. 8 plants in a SOG, means I have to produce 17.5g per plant or about 0.62 oz's per plant.
It's easily achievable if you put your mind to it.