I could moving lighting circuits to one of the inverters but then it would need to idle all the time with a very light load. Reason I want to go 24 volt and avoid that
I'm admittedly old-school, and it stems from having lived with inverters that were much less than what the better ones are today, but I really dislike having all of the lighting (and water pumping) reliant on an inverter. If you ever have to send one "away" for repairs - and that's a hassle all its own - I'd don't want to be without, light, heat and refrigeration if I have a choice. Inverters have come a long way though.
kc7 raises a good point about efficacy specs/standards, or lack of. As with the fist CFLs there's some junk to avoid. The one above seems to be in the 75 l/w.
What I tend to be more sensitive to with CFLs & LEDs is not the output generally, but the color and especially the CRI. We've used a lot of those MR16 (Quartz Halogen) specular reflector lamps in areas where color is important. You can power a small trac section with 12VDC (usually with one wire terminal change, and eliminating the transformer(s) of course) and dim them with chopper dimmers. Excellent color and control. I've just started converting some to LEDs with pretty good results.
The newest thing I've begun seeing is dimmable versus non-dimmable LEDs being sold.
There are also emerging "smart bulbs" that allow remote full-color dimming (smart phone or fob). I like the ones with motion sensing. I like going down the stairs to get a drink of water without fumbling for a light. Most kids don't know what clock-wise means today, I wonder if wall switches may soon be a thing of the past.
~ks