. In a dwelling if you had say 5 rooms of recessed lighting on a single circuit all 5 of those rooms would have to be on simultaneously for 3 or more hours for the load to be continuous. Even if all 5 rooms were on at the same time for 3 or more hours if any of those rooms had a dimmer and was not used at 100% output the load is not continuous.
If the bathrooms lights are on that same circuit have an occupancy sensor then the load is no longer continuous.
I do not know why all the lighting being on 1 circuit for dwellings would be a factor for determining continuous loads
Why can this not be the case for a single branch circuit within a dwelling that is fully loaded to its ampacity (with lights) and on for 3 hours or more?
All the books I ever read and especially when conducting load calculations for dwellings just say not to count lighting and general receptacle loads as non continuous without a 125% ampacity factor applied?
Also I se your logic about occupancy sensors but excluding a circuit from being considered continuous would also depend on traffic and occupancy numbers so the circuit could still be fully loaded and on for more than 3 hours during normal business