The more apt analogy is between pre-electric and post-electric lighting (~1850 to 1920), when efficiency of light generation rapidly increased, restabilizing at

The more apt analogy is between pre-electric and post-electric lighting (~1850 to 1920), when efficiency of light generation rapidly increased, restabilizing at ~222x as much light for the same unit of human labor. [0] Across that period, first world countries massively increased their demand for light. Further efficiency increases only matter to individual choices if they take a use case from {economically impossible} to {economically possible}. I'd offer that by the 1920s, most goings-on in first world urban environments were no longer price constrained in terms of their light usage. [0] See table 1.4, p21 https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c6064/c6064.pdf https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c6064/c6064.pdf