Automatic Power Usage

[jpheep]

Could there please be some way to have lights/power only activate when an object/room is in use?

There could either be hardware that needs to be built (pressure plates/switches) for a colonist to activate when entering a room to turn on the lights/power the objects or research a technology that will automatically turn lights on/off when colonists are in the vicinity.  To this same point, I would assume that the colonists wouldn't want the lights on while they sleep.

[Monkfish]

I've noticed that there is no "in darkness" debuff when colonists are sleeping so they don't much care for the light levels. I'd like some form of automated lighting system though, if only so that I don't have to micromanage my power systems as my colonies often end up quite sizeable and toggling 50+ lights and a similar number of doorways is a pain in the arse.

On that note, I'm not sure how responsive the automation would be given the current laginess of the lights, assuming that it's a bottleneck in the code somewhere rather than by design.

[Psycho0124]

It's already a real-world technology called an "occupancy sensor".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUG4UOLSYCs
I have one in my garage and It's great. With power being such a big factor in the game, I think it would go nicely in-game too.

[Monkfish]

I need those in my life, Mrs Fish is forever leaving the lights on. I often come home from work and find half of the lights on with her sat in the living room.

[Gideon]

Every bathroom in an office building I've been in for the last decade has these.

[Thunder Rahja]

Not possible until a modder decides to code one in Alpha 3.

[Architect]

Not possible until a modder decides to code one in Alpha 3.

A modder did, it's sitting in the tester forum right now XD