[insane_dreamer]

> our demand for electricity is ever going to be lower than it is right now, so trying to use less of it seems futile

not necessarily; for example, switching from incandescent lightbulbs to LEDs is a huge decrease in power consumption

[_heimdall]

In isolation, yes one led bulb is more efficient. People tend to use that efficiency as an excuse for using more on the whole though.

I wish I could find the link here, without it this is just anecdote, but I saw a study that found our energy use for lighting either remained flat or increased with the move away from incandescents. We install more lights and feel better about leaving them on for longer periods of time.

[insane_dreamer]

Yeah, there is that psychology at work. Would be interested in seeing some numbers on it.

[_heimdall]

Here's the best data I found so far [1]. They call out an increase use in 2022, but that's global and doesn't account only for countries that largely moved to LEDs.

[1] https://www.iea.org/energy-system/buildings/lighting#trackin...