Turning off a light switch isn't futile, it's just not optimal. What you're describing can happen, but isn't common. In that situation, someone using less decre

Turning off a light switch isn't futile, it's just not optimal. What you're describing can happen, but isn't common. In that situation, someone using less decreases price such that someone else uses more to the point where price recovers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand#Effect_on_total_revenue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_elasticity_of_demand#Eff... In the real world, efficiency increases aren't perfect, and we do use something more if it's efficient, but the vast majority of the time, the efficiency increase still reduces usage. It's usually not a maximal reduction because of the redbound effect (except for some appliances), but in every recent case, overall emergy use does drop. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20010730_RS20981_bebfb5655ab124bbbc7f8e4a7791e4316b7ed83f.pdf https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20010730_RS20981_bebfb5...