I've a lowish wattage light on a pir towards the side where kettle and sink are
This is perfect for all the times people are in and out making a cup of tea or similar
Another brighter main light then for actual working in the kitchen
Darn good idea, not that I need them now, as lights are on voice control, I found going into any room, turning the main light on, and then lights near something we are working with be it under counter lights, up-lighters, cabinet display lights, it does not matter. But when one leaves a room and turns off the main light, to then have to go around the room turning off all the various lights, that annoys me.
Also, we feed cats in the kitchen, I am sure they can see food in the dark, but it seems wrong to turn off lights when they are eating.
That might have made some sense for the cost-conscious in the days of old. However, the running cost of LEDs are so trivial that I'm not sure it is any longer particularly relevant/necessary.
Not sure running costs have changed that much. Old house kitchen had two fluorescent lamps, arranged as a T on the ceiling, one 65 watt (latter 58 watt) the other shorter, can't remember wattage. Son bought the house where the 65 watt lamp was, there are now down lights, around 14, x likely 4 watt = 56 watts, so really very little change.
This living room, single 150 watt pendent lamp to one side of the room, not a clue why not central, I replaced with an 8 bulb chandelier with 6 watt bulbs, as a 12 watt LED looked more like a tocH candle. So still 48 watt, and we also have cabinet lights 54 watt in total although normally used dimmed, and pedestal lights both down and up light types, one up-lighter has a bulb with wings, rated 36 watts LED.
So as I look around the house, we have a lot more light, to the original, likely due to our presbyterian eyes, as we get older we seem to need more light.
Bedroom in old house, three gang two-way switch at door, a two gang intermediate one side of bed, and two gang two-way other side of bed, With centre light, and two bedside GU10 reading lamps, and I was proud of the set-up.
Wife moved into dinning room as bedroom after an operation, as could not climb the stairs, and I fitted a smart switch and magnetic button for lights, abandoned the button and re-used as a bell push, as she used voice commands with the Nest Mini speaker (Similar to Alexa).
The problem is remembering names given. I can turn on just the light for the sink, or whole kitchen, but I look at back-ground power use, and it is creeping up.
Now 356 watts, evening seems to go to around 550 watts, how much is freezers and fridges, how much it lights, how much is fans, how much is stand-by, how much TV, not a clue.
When the solar panels are producing 500 watt even at 8 am, why should I worry? The evening is the biggest drain, but this time of year still have 50% battery left when off-peak starts.
But Winter when lights used more, yes I do run out of battery, and so our first yearly total with feed in payments was around £300 for the year, so not net-zero, electric still costs. Although not much.
I have seen 39 kWh in a day, but by time one runs the AC as so darn hot, consumption up to 15.4 kWh, so yes we still turn off lights when we leave a room. And outside lights no longer on PIR control, mainly as they would switch off at inappropriate moments. Getting old, I don't move fast enough.
But last house, we had display cabinet lights, don't think ever used, looked good, but we just would not get around to switching them on.
Even this house, counter top lights are colour changing, why, I always use them set to white. Used really as the Lidi strip light was wipe clean, not because the colours changed.
The only light we really need to dim, is the outside light, as if too bright, the cars reversing camera and lights don't work as well. It is about the only light we really want colour changing, we set it to green at Halloween to show we have sweets for the kids.
