Daylight Saving Wastes Energy, Study Says

The Wall Street Journal

Daylight Saving Wastes Energy, Study Says
By JUSTIN LAHART
February 27, 2008; Page D1

For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time, which begins March 9, reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy. Up until two years ago, only 15 of Indiana's 92 counties set their clocks an hour ahead in the spring and an hour back in the fall. The rest stayed on standard time all year, in part because farmers resisted the prospect of having to work an extra hour in the morning dark. But many residents came to hate falling in and out of sync with businesses and residents in neighboring states and prevailed upon the Indiana Legislature to put the entire state on daylight-saving time beginning in the spring of 2006.

Indiana's change of heart gave University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant a unique way to see how the time shift affects energy use. Using more than seven million monthly meter readings from Duke Energy Corp., covering nearly all the households in southern Indiana for three years, they were able to compare energy consumption before and after counties began observing daylight-saving time. Readings from counties that had already adopted daylight-saving time provided a control group that helped them to adjust for changes in weather from one year to the next. Their finding: Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills. They conclude that the reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight-saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings.

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During the first and second world wars, the U.S. temporarily enacted daylight-saving time as an energy-saving measure. Over time, most states began changing their clocks, and in response to the 1973 oil shock, the country extended daylight-saving time in 1974 and 1975. Analyzing that time shift, a 1975 report by the U.S. Department of Transportation concluded that the change reduced electricity demand by 1% in March and April. But in a 1976 report to Congress evaluating that analysis, the National Bureau of Standards concluded that there were no significant energy savings. Still, the Transportation Department study stuck. Speaking before the House of Representatives in 2002, Indiana Rep. Julia Carson said that under daylight-saving time, Indiana families would save "over $7 million annually in electricity rates alone."

(snip)

That was borne out by the study by Mr. Kotchen and Ms. Grant. Their research showed that while an extra hour of daylight in the evenings may mean less electricity is spent on lights, it also means that houses are warmer in the summer when people come home from work. Conversely, during daylight-saving time's cooler months, people may crank up the thermostats more in the morning. Still, the case on daylight-saving time isn't closed. "My read on this study is that it's one data point that gives us something to think about," says Richard Stevie, an economist with Duke Energy, of Mr. Kotchen and Ms. Grant's research. "I think that additional research really needs to be done." And UCLA economist Matthew Kahn points out that even if the evidence on Indiana is airtight, the effect of daylight-saving time on other states might be different -- a point that Mr. Markey makes as well.

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A good portion of Indiana remains oddly on Eastern time, though it is squarely in the midwestern, Central time zone geographically. Changing to daylight savings time was only one part of their time problem.

woohoo.....getting tired of the short days and longer nights

But then I'm not a morning person and I love having the extra hour of daylight at end of day to walk or at least to have daylight when I leave work. I'm tired of it being dark when I leave work or as I get home.

I have 2 countdown gadgets on my laptop. One counting down Bush, the other I've had since we set the clocks back counting down the days to DST.

The extension of DST is one law I approved of the Repukes passing.

Up here in Minnesota, I can work in the yard past 9pm for several weeks around the solstice. It's great. The ONLY downside is on the 4th of July when there's still a hint of dusk when the fireworks start.

This is entirely nonsensical. Think about it. Really.

And the worse part this year is that it's three weeks early.

:(

and soon they will be in the dark again and then try to get them to bed with longer hour to nighttime.
Daylight Savings time is asinine!

:-)

Certainly in the Midwest, the hottest time of the day is in the late afternoon, especially when one is surrounded by paved area that radiates the heat.

Just let the day be what it's supposed to be , man tinkers with everything and fucks things up , the days naturally get longer without any help from some stupid clock setting .