What about the part after the lamp, the bit where someone still has to notice it went dark and switch it back on? The mechanism is solved. What's still open is who in the house carries the noticing, and whether that's the actual cost nobody's pricing in yet.
You're right that it adds a loop, not a free ride. The goal is not necessarily ‘zero cost’, it's net cost. A timer takes the noticing off a person entirely, which is the cleanest version. But even bare-bones, the math usually still favors the lamp: a clock stuck 90 minutes behind is a much heavier tax than a switch you sometimes forget. You're just trading a big recurring cost for a small one.
Love this, thank you.
What about the part after the lamp, the bit where someone still has to notice it went dark and switch it back on? The mechanism is solved. What's still open is who in the house carries the noticing, and whether that's the actual cost nobody's pricing in yet.
You're right that it adds a loop, not a free ride. The goal is not necessarily ‘zero cost’, it's net cost. A timer takes the noticing off a person entirely, which is the cleanest version. But even bare-bones, the math usually still favors the lamp: a clock stuck 90 minutes behind is a much heavier tax than a switch you sometimes forget. You're just trading a big recurring cost for a small one.