From my view, governments /should/ be forcing (yes, forcing) people to do
what's necessary to save energy. Market forces are highly effective in
making short-term changes; they are much less effective in effecting proper
long-term changes. (Things usually get worse until they abruptly collapse.)
The problem, of course, is making sure the forced changes are rational and
occur in the correct order.

What people find aesthetically pleasing varies widely. In Jack Finney's
classic novel "Time and Again" (it's the literary equivalent of a box of
chocolate-covered cherries and I recommend it highly, just for fun), when
Simon Morley returns to the 20th century from the 19th with his girlfriend
Julia Charbonneau, she loves the brightness and clarity of incandescent
lamps, but he says he prefers gas light.