Daylight Saving Time Wastes Energy 550
An anonymous reader writes "With the time approaching when we'll be changing our clocks again, the Wall Street Journal is running a timely article on a study done by a UC-Santa Barbara economics professor and a Ph.D. student. The study unambiguously concludes that Daylight Saving Time not only doesn't save any energy, it actually wastes energy and costs more. The study used energy company records from Indiana before and after that state mandated DST for all of its counties, and calculated that the switch cost Indiana citizens $8.6M per year. 'I've never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this,' the professor said."
Who Benefits? (Score:5, Funny)
Bruce
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:5, Funny)
Letter to my congressional reps (Score:5, Funny)
Dear Sir:
Daylight savings time hits hard this time of year.
It was cold and dark when I got up this morning, so the
first thing I did was was turn up the heat and turn on the
lights. That's going to jack up my energy bill for the
month.
Then I drove my son to school. He missed his bus all five
days this week. That's going to jack up my fuel bill for the
month.
Then I dragged myself through another day at work. I don't
function well when I have to get up before dawn.
The people in my family are all diurnal (dI-UR-nal). It
means we sleep when it's dark and wake when it's light. The
problem is that in northern latitudes (like Massachusetts)
the sun rises later in the winter than in the summer.
To compensate for this, we have a scheme called Daylight
Savings Time. Daylight savings shifts our school and work
schedules forward in the summer and back in the winter, to
keep them roughly in sync with the sun. It used to work
pretty well, but congress broke it a couple of years ago:
now it goes too long in the fall and starts too early in the
spring.
Most of the damage that congress does affects me at some
remove, but this--this comes right out of my hide. When I'm
stumbling around in the dark for three weeks next spring,
I'll be thinking of you.
Sincerely,
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, let's do away with all of this time zone crap too. I think the folks on the other side of the world from me can all go third shift.
Re:You're close, actually (Score:5, Funny)
First post (Score:2, Funny)
Here is a solution for you (Score:5, Funny)
Now, while the USD has been falling against the yen recently, I'm going to wager that 100 yen is still less than $8.6 million.
Re:DST Improves Quality of Life (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:You're close, actually (Score:3, Funny)
DST has been lobbied for years by Cat Inc. Think of how many more birds can be killed with an extra hour of daylight!
IMO the extra hour of light is nice when recreating outdoors.
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Why not do it like AZ? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I can only speak for myself (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Not a downside (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Who Benefits? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Who Benefits? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Um... (Score:3, Funny)
Basically, the clock is just a label. If the government stops shifting the clock around, and gives every point in time a constant label, then it just becomes an unbiased way to label the day, and no longer a way to control people.
Re:Who Benefits? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wait a sec (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Who Benefits? (Score:1, Funny)
DST is pure evil. It takes me months to get over it.
What I can't stand is how that extra hour of sunlight stains my curtains. I have to replace them after every summer. :(