“Spring forward, fall back.”  We’ve all heard this little mnemonic before.  It is fixed into our brains at a very young age in order to remind us which way to set the clock during daylight savings time.  As you probably know, daylight savings time happens 2 times each year—once in the spring and once in the fall.  This has just become a fact of life for us, as we’ve been doing it for over 100 years.  But why do we set our clocks back and forward each year?

Daylight Savings was adopted as a relatively uniform practice in 1907 in the U.S., though the idea has been documented as far back as 1784.  It was originally developed to give people more time to enjoy the summer evenings while it was still light.  Since then, it has evolved to have effects like reducing crime, raising traffic safety, and saving energy.  Though it had stayed relatively constant throughout the past 40 years, last year, in 2007, it was changed to last 3 weeks longer than in the past.  It was billed as an energy saver; who could argue with that?

Basically, the idea was that if people had natural light later into the evening, they would not need to turn on artificial light, and “waste energy.”  But, new studies have emerged that suggest the extended daylight savings time actually had the opposite effect—we used more energy.  Why?  Well, it seems that as we substitute more light at night for more darkness in the morning, we end up using more energy in the morning when it is dark for longer. This is perfectly logical, and I can’t help but wonder why congress didn’t consider this before passing the law last year.  In the end, the energy that is used in the morning, equals, and possibly even overrides any energy that would have been saved.  The overall increase in energy spent ranges from 1 to 4 percent, in different studies.

We had an unusual insight into the issue, because, until 2006, of Indiana’s 92 counties, only 15 observed DST.  Matthew Kotchen and colleague Laura Grant, both economists at the University of California, took advantage of the recent change to do some research.  What they found was that residential electricity bills increased by nearly 7 million dollars each year since the switch.  This obviously implies that more energy is being used up, which is not something that we can afford to do to our planet at the moment.

Perhaps the worst effect of the long daylight savings time is that, in addition to more light being used, people will get home from work one hour earlier, and on hot days, they will be likely to turn on the air conditioning one hour earlier than they otherwise would.  As you are probably aware, air conditioning, though a much-appreciated comfort, is extremely harsh on the environment.  Though you are getting nice cold air inside, hot air is being spewed into the great outdoors, which, collectively, has a big impact. 

So, I think the solution is clear.  Though it is probably unrealistic to hope for daylight savings to be abolished entirely, the data clearly point to getting rid of the extended time.  In the future, we should consider the potential consequences before making laws like this one.  As we approach the change this Sunday, be thinking of how this will affect your habits.  Try not to use any more electricity that you need in the morning, and think before cranking up the cold air.

 

Citations:

Handwerk, Brian. “Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?”  National Geographic.  March 7, 2008.  National Geographic.  March 7, 2008.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080307-daylight-saving.html

“Study: Daylight Savings Time Actually Raises Utility Bills.” Today in Tech.  February 29, 2008.  Yahoo.  March 5, 2008. 

http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/83073

Bobmu.  “How Daylight Savings Works.”  HubPages.  March 6, 2008.  http://hubpages.com/hub/How_Daylight_Savings_works

Adrilch, Bob.  “Saving Time, Saving Energy.”  California Energy Commission.  March 6, 2008.  California Energy Commission. March 7, 2008. http://www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html