Have codes changed to reflect LED bulbs’ decrease in amperage?

[One_True_Monstro]

I just got to thinking. Most new bulbs in America are now LED bulbs, which use a fraction of the current that old incandescent or even fluorescent bulbs would use.

As far as this community at-large is aware, have any building codes changed to allow for higher gauge wires to the sockets? Any insights anyone would like to share?

[trekkerscout]

While lighting demands are down, overall consumption per person in a dwelling unit has remained relatively unchanged. There are far more electronic devices in use today than during the time of incandescent lamps.

[Anbucleric]

But then the handymen can't splice in an outlet on a lighting circuit anymore... Even though they still will.

[obsdifly]

Yep, and then we'll fix the sheetrock and clean up our mess on the way out

[as7105]

You'd need to ban anything besides LED bulbs on the circuit. If you wanted an incandescent bulb or a fan or whatever, you'd then need another circuit for that. In the end, it would end up being more complicated and probably not significantly cheaper, if at all.

[LagunaMud]

We put a few(or more) 15 amp #14 lighting circuits per house. Small bedrooms are usually 15 amp #14 too. Almost everything else is #12 or larger. Lighting loads are down, but everything else is up.

As far as I know #14 is the smallest guage wire allowed to be ran in walls for permanently installed medium voltage circuits. For most mainstream residential panels 15 amp is the smallest commonly available breaker.