Final Word on Daylight Saving–Not
EmailThis is a quick tale about journalistic caution.
Various editors here got up this morning, and jumped at a Reuters story that began, "The early onset of Daylight Savings Time in the United States this year may have been for naught."
It does get your attention, especially after all the last-minute catch-up work that I.T. departments had to do to computer networks, and all the questions about whether the shift would, as hoped, save energy. The Reuters piece is HERE, and a past piece by me on the subject is HERE.
So we got on the phone, called the Energy Department and various electric utilities, and seemed to confirm the story: "Overall on the system, we did not see a significant change between before Daylight Saving and after," said George Malek of Illinois-based Commonwealth Edison.
But then there was a slight pause.
"I think it’s too early, though, to tell…."
In other words, there’s a lot of number-crunching still to be done; the weather, to cite just one example, can have a much larger effect on electric demand than a one-hour shift in alarm clocks. A statement from the Department of Energy: "The jury is still out on the potential national energy-savings of extending daylight savings time. A preliminary report, based on decades-old information, indicates a very small amount of energy savings. However, after November, we’ll be in a better position to accurately figure out what, if any, additional benefit there is."
So, starting to feel squeamish, we kept our appointment to talk to Rep. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who, along with Rep Fred Upton (R-Mich), sponsored the amendment in 2005 mandating the daylight-saving change.
Markey stuck to his guns. Even a one-percent drop in power demand, he said, would mean three large power plants that don’t have to be built; 10 million metric tons of carbon that won’t be emitted into the atmosphere; less crime and fewer traffic accidents in the evening–and, he said, "people are happy in the evening when they have that extra light."
He did say much the same before DST begain March 11; witness this RELEASE.
For lack of better numbers on energy consumption, we’re dropping the story for now. These things happen.
Space Station Flies Over Eastern U.S. at Night 
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I love the early DST — the sun sets later in the day! Most people are awake in the evening to enjoy the daylight in the evenings versus before where the daylight was in the early morning when fewer people were awake to enjoy it.
Posted by: tap | April 4, 2007, 8:59 pm 8:59 pm
Most Massachusetts Legislators are a little weird to begin with, this time of the year the only way to get any more day light in Massachusetts is turn the darn lights on!
Posted by: Bill Montgomery | April 4, 2007, 10:05 pm 10:05 pm
I believe the government needs to leave time alone and not mess with it, keeping it on one time or the other, preferably on standard time as it should be. I believe too drastic changes affects the body negatively. What has the government accomplished? Maybe to flex their muscles and say they can do it just because? They claim it may save a percent or two on energy, but what does that matter if that savings is lost elsewhere? How many traffic accidents occurred during the morning rush hour and insurance claims gone up? How many people were stumbling to get out of bed early and turning on their lights around the house? How many computer bugs were encountered, meetings missed, automation jobs firing at wrong times and failing, and time spent trying to fix the bugs, costing companies millions of dollars, all to save a percent or two on energy? I call this bug the Y2k7ds bug, standing for Year 2007 Daylight Savings Bug, created courtesy by the US Government and Microsoft. Is the US Government going to compensate companies or set up a disaster relief fund for lost time and money spent by companies? Probably not, but rather than the government trying to dictate what the time should be, why can’t companies dictate what time their business open and close instead? This would avoid time confusion. And still, it doesn’t address the biggest energy consuming appliances, especially air conditioners. Perhaps instead of the government looking for ways to change time, maybe they should look for ways to find alternative forms of energy or energy efficiency. Maybe companies should fight back and change their business hours to fall back an hour in Spring to compensate for the US Government changing time to cause it to Spring forward? Then companies would stay open an hour later and perhaps gain more business as more people tend to buy later in the evening than in the morning. Perhaps it comes time for states to step up and do what Arizona did and not observe Daylight Saving Time.
Posted by: Rodney Stowell | April 4, 2007, 11:28 pm 11:28 pm
i love being on dst, even tho i go to bed when it is still light out during the week because i get up so early. i wish we were on it all year round. the morning makes no difference as i still go to work in the dark
Posted by: NANCY | April 5, 2007, 9:30 am 9:30 am
It may be too soon to evaluate the effects of the earlier switch to daylight saving time, but it would be worthwhile to do the research after we revert to standard time to see if the change helped save any energy or if the change was more psychological in its effects. I, like most people, enjoyed the earlier onset of longer afternoons and evenings, but I’m not sure of their usefulness if they don’t actually accomplish any energy savings.
Posted by: chuck | April 5, 2007, 9:47 am 9:47 am
I really like the early DST. Even if it has no real function. I wouldn’t mind is DST was the year round time.
Posted by: Beth | April 5, 2007, 12:09 pm 12:09 pm
I liked the early DST. My husband and I have been able to take walks after work and we are enjoying the extra light in the evenings. I also got my latest electric bill and it was down 2 KWH from last month. There was no change from the KWH usage from last year though, so I don’t think the DST change lessened our electric bill.
Posted by: Kerri | April 5, 2007, 3:47 pm 3:47 pm
Just another example of Man’s arrogance, screwing with the natural order of things because “we know better”. Leave the time alone, allow our Circadian or however that’s spelled, clocks to get back to our normal body cycles.
Posted by: Mike | April 5, 2007, 3:55 pm 3:55 pm
March 11 was a shocker because of how late the sun rose that day on the clock. It rose at nearly 7:30 A.M. in my location which I consider late. Most people are awake by then and are using lights in the morning as they have been forced to awaken before sunrise. How does this save energy? It doesn’t. It just shifts demand from the evening to the morning and only when the days naturally get longer and the sun rises before wake up DST or not does DST actually work. March is too early to start DST and November is too late to end it.
Posted by: Jason | April 6, 2007, 2:05 am 2:05 am
Let’s see, when there is more daylight after people get out of work wouldn’t that make them more likely to go do things? Run errands, go to a movie, happy hour etc. And how do they get to those places? By driving of course. What does driving do? It increases energy consumption.
Posted by: Ryan | April 6, 2007, 5:33 pm 5:33 pm