Daylight-savings time takes effect Sunday at 2:00 am springing the clocks ahead to 3:00 am. Growing up I always was excited about daylight-savings time, when we got to spring ahead with the change of season. However, now that the Bush Administration changed the date to the second Sunday in March, rather than the first Sunday in April, it all just seems like another day with an extra hour.
In 2005, Congress amended the Energy Policy Act, extending daylight-savings time by one month by beginning earlier and ending later, in hopes to conserve energy and help the environment. However, a recent study conducted by University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. candidate Laura Grant, shows that springing forward may actually waste energy.
Waste energy, how can that be? If we have more daylight, there should be less demand on energy right. We turn our lights on later, no?
Well, Kotchen and Grant studied energy use in nearly every household southern Indiana from 2004 to 2006 (7 million monthly meter readings for 3 years). Most counties in Indiana did not observe daylight-savings until 2006. They discovered that residents that lived in counties that adopted daylight-savings used 1 to 4 % more energy per year. They found that the reduce of the cost of lighting in the afternoons was offset by high air conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increase heating cost on cool mornings.
So what is the cost of daylight-savings time according to Kotchen. Well, a recent interview published in USA Today, Kotchen stated, "The change in cost to Indiana residents in terms of increased electricity demand is just over $3 per household per year. Over the whole population, that comes out to $8.6 million a year. Another element is the social (and economic) cost of pollution emissions. Having to generate more energy for electricity means there is going to be more pollution. We estimate those cost are between $1.6 million and $5.3 million per year in increased pollution costs."
Kotchen admits that more studies need to be done to evaluate the cost to the entire nation and that in some areas it just may save energy. In addition, he says that before we scrap the increased daylight we must take many other factors into consideration like increased leisure time.
There are so many arguments for it and against it. Teachers do not like it because many kids go to school when it is still dark. Oil companies love it because it keeps people on the roads driving. Retailers and merchants make more money during daylight-savings because it gives people more time to shop after work. However, the silliest and one I do not really understand I read about in the San Francisco Chronicle. Cows do not like it. According to an organic dairy farmer in California, it is very hard for the cows to adjust. Can they tell time? Is hard for them to change their watches?
What do you think about it?
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Dawn Jackson Blatner RD, LDN, is a 
Liz Edmunds’ passion for the importance of family dinnertime led a kitchen-store manager to dub her “the food nanny.” The moniker stuck! Today Liz serves as part teacher, part counselor, part coach for families in need of organizational help and cooking instruction so they can implement a weekly dinner plan in their own homes.
Calorie Bargain: Cherry Pie Larabar
