Ya know, would it be possible to replace all those awful CFLs with one big, reliable ballast supply and a suitable infrastructure to run it?
I'm thinking... constant current HF supply in the basement/attic. Coax runs to all the lamps in the house, maybe a few kV worth, in series. Multiple circuits could be provided from the device so the voltage is realistic. Lights are hooked in series, and if the OC voltage is high enough, they won't even need starters or filaments, they can be cold cathode. Well, that makes things easier.
Justification for new wiring, power supply, lamps, etc. is "new technology", for gutted/new manufacture housing. Put it in once and forget about it, just like any other wiring. Lots of types of wiring have been developed (beyond regular romex, there's telephone, CATV, ethernet, etc.), so it's not like it's a big deal wiring it up. Maybe existing fluo fixtures could be rewired for the system.
Cost: yeah, it's pricey. So is building a frickin house. Buy it once and forget about it. Buy ten cheapass tubes for the rest of your life and you couldn't care less.
EMI/RFI: not a problem. Most fixtures are metal, so run shielded twisted pair. Net field is zero. RF likes to get out anyway, so run it at a reasonable switcher frequency, like 50kHz, and make it resonant, so the output is a filtered sine wave.
Switches might be the hardest, just because you somehow have to convince electricians that *shorting out* the fixture is, in fact, the correct way to turn it off.
Tim