Have I mentioned lately that I hate/resent/dread Daylight Savings Time? Always have. Always will. And here in The Sunshine State it’s an especial torture when, every summer, we take an hour away from the coolest part of the day and tack it on to the hottest part of the day.
So thank you National Geographic for putting it out there. First, the premise put forward in 1917 that DST would energy has little relevance 100 years later.
In their 2008 National Bureau of Economic Research study, the team found that lighting demand dropped, but the warmer hour of extra daylight tacked onto each evening led to more air-conditioning use, which canceled out the gains from reduced lighting and then some: Hoosiers paid higher electric bills than before DST, the study showed . . . During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, parts of Australia extended daylight saving time while others did not . . . the practice did indeed drop lighting and electricity use in the evenings—but that higher energy demands during darker mornings completely canceled out the evening gains. . .
“Everywhere there is air conditioning, our evidence suggests that daylight saving is a loser,” Wolff said.
And, oh yeah, gas.
“When you give Americans more light at the end of the day, they really do want to get out of the house. And they go to ballparks, or to the mall and other places, but they don’t walk there. Daylight saving reliably increases the amount of driving that Americans do, and gasoline consumption tracks up with daylight saving.”
Conventional wisdom is that DST was begun to help farmers. Not so. Farmers found it disruptive to livestock and crops. Who else doesn’t like it?
- Orthodox religions with traditional prayer schedules have long fought against DST
- The TV industry hates it and fights it, and
- Arizona thinks it’s stupid and does not participate.
You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy. But you cannot have both.
Whatever Works 
Tell me how not to participate. I hate it too —
LikeLike
pat, I honestly think most people do hate it (Jim Wheeler excepted!)
LikeLike
12 years in the Caribbean and we never had to deal with it. Now here it is again. It’s like an extra bit of jet lag twice a year… Ahhh, but people SHOP more.
LikeLike
That’s exactly it Donald – it feels like jetlag, but it goes on for weeks until we adjust. Bad, bad, bad.
LikeLike
Excellent point if view!! Reblogging for sure!! Others need to know!! PR stays the same …. Gotta remember when calling!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Here’s a good explanation!! Reasons and effects ….
LikeLike
Thanks again doc! Maybe we can organize . . . 😆
LikeLike
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Doesn’t change anything but the clocks! Remember the president who thought starting daylight savings time sooner would save electricity.
LikeLike
I’ve heard that a principal reason for DST is to prevent children from having to go to school in the dark, and I suppose the same logic would apply to going to work. It’s depressing to me to get up when it’s still night outside. One might suggest the alternative of schools and businesses altering their hours of operation rather than changing clocks, but then that presents the problem of coordination. It’s a time conundrum. It’s important to note that the severity of the problem is in direct proportion to the latitude, which is why Arizona can snub DST much more easily than, say, North Dakota, where the amount of daylight has got to be tiny, no matter how you slice it. Then there’s Alaska. Oh my! I wonder what they think about it?
LikeLike
But still Jim, DST doesn’t confer MORE daylight to any time zone – it’s just a copy/paste from am to pm and the other way around. So do Alaskans want to get up in the dark or leave work in the dark? 😆
LikeLike
Good Riddance to Daylight Savings Time | Whatever Works
LikeLike