Even though it's way more powerful than my first computer, it uses only a fraction of the energy. So yes, in a way maybe you're abusing a pretty powerful computer to do some silly gadget thing, but there's no real negative impact. I know what you mean though. I've only recently gotten into microcontrollers, and because of the time of year I've been thinking of Christmas lights too, and felt the same thing. Then again: I'm also using my M1 Macbook to write a comment on HN, which is only a fraction of what it can do.