The lights are there for safety issues. (The winking smiley was to let you know that the other lights mentioned are also safety issues.) Luckily you cannot turn off safety issues just because you think the battery is going to die. The lights work when the ignition is on and statistically most of the time the ignition is on the engine is running so the battery is being charged. Yes Volvo do tend to be a bit "nanny" about safety, but better that than letting owners remove safety features from their cars to the detriment of others for what are trivial reasons. You may want to turn off the riding lights on your car but I want you to keep them on and Volvo agrees with me.
(I'm driving the car coming towards you)