Posted on 03/09/2013 1:23:59 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Daylight Saving Time starts at 2:00 AM tomorrow morning and there are increasing calls to end the practice. Part of the reason are the health effects, which are serious. And then there's the extra energy usage that we can't afford in this day and age.
From LA Times:
Once again, the oft-dreaded daylight saving time change is upon us. The day that the clocks "spring" forward also inevitably takes a spring out of our step.
Sure, the birds seem to chirp a little later, the sunlight shines a little less as we drag ourselves through the morning routine. But as study after study has shown, that seems to be about the only highlight in those first days after the change.
According to the Better Sleep Council, a nonprofit organization supported by mattress manufacturers, 61% of U.S. adults say daylight saving time affects their work the Monday after the changeover.
In a survey of 1,038 adults, the immediate effects of losing an hour of shuteye affected everything from people's moods to eating and driving habits.
About 29% of those surveyed said it takes a week to adjust to the change, with adults between 18 and 34 needing the most time to get with the new program. (But let's face it: those at the younger end of that range may struggle to get out of bed regardless.)
But don't just take the mattress industry's word for it. A number of studies over the last 13 years have highlighted the range of health consequences of people ill-prepared to start their morning routine just 60 minutes earlier.
According to a 2008 Swedish study, there's a 6% to 10% increase in heart attacks in the first three workdays after the start of daylight saving time.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
My grandparents never got used to DST. They had two clocks in their house, one on what they called “slow time” and one on “fast time”. They lived on “slow time” all the time and only kept the “fast time” clock for when they had appointments or anything that involved the outside world. They lived to be about 90; and did it their way.
Everybody does go to work an hour earlier. That’s the point.
Instead of each individual company deciding to do it or not, we all agree to move the clocks.
Imagine a world where twice a year we have to figure out if the dry cleaner or supermarket have gone to “seasonal hours” or not.
No one cares if it i light at 4:30 am, but it is nice to have dusk at 9.
There should be thirteen 28 day months, every one starting on a Monday.
Each year there would be either one or two non-month days for festivals, celebration, and relaxation to make up the slack.
I tell my kids that every time I want to see them roll their eyes. Other than dividing the year into quarters it would be far better.
Balderdash - that's non-farmer talk for bull####. My uncle was a dyed-in-the-wool batchelor farmer who HATED daylight savings time. However, he had an easy solution: He simply left his clocks where they were. He only had to remember that the feed store closed an hour early in the summer. I can't imagine how DST would have any other effect on farmers.
I used to love Drive-ins.
I would blame their demise on Daylight Savings time because it never got dark, and the pressure of real estate being swallowed up as the population exploded when the 1965 Immigration Act started the world’s masses flowing into America.
By the time 8:30 or 9:00PM rolls around people would have settled on something else besides a double feature at the local drive-in which was going to get them home at 1:00AM.
DST has somewhere between no and negative effect on electric usage. It’s daylight now my lights are on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#cite_ref-CRS_81-0
The US Dept. of Transportation (DOT) concluded in 1975 that DST might reduce the country’s electricity usage by 1% during March and April,[14] but the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) reviewed the DOT study in 1976 and found no significant savings.[81]
In 2000 when parts of Australia began DST in late winter, overall electricity consumption did not decrease, but the morning peak load and prices increased.[82]
In Western Australia during summer 2006–07, DST increased electricity consumption during hotter days and decreased it during cooler days, with consumption rising 0.6% overall.[83]
Although a 2007 study estimated that introducing DST to Japan would reduce household lighting energy consumption,[84] a 2007 simulation estimated that DST would increase overall energy use in Osaka residences by 0.13%, with a 0.02% decrease due to less lighting more than outweighed by a 0.15% increase due to extra cooling; neither study examined non-residential energy use.[85] This is probably because DST’s effect on lighting energy use is mainly noticeable in residences.[14]
A 2007 study found that the earlier start to DST that year had little or no effect on electricity consumption in California.[86]
A 2007 study estimated that winter daylight saving would prevent a 2% increase in average daily electricity consumption in Great Britain.[87] This paper was revised in October 2009 .[88]
A 2008 study examined billing data in Indiana before and after it adopted DST in 2006, and concluded that DST increased overall residential electricity consumption by 1% to 4%, due mostly to extra afternoon cooling and extra morning heating; the main increases came in the fall. The overall annual cost of DST to Indiana households was estimated to be $9 million, with an additional $1.7–5.5 million for social costs due to increased pollution.[89]
The US Dept. of Energy (DOE) concluded in a 2008 report that the 2007 US extension of DST saved 0.5% of electricity usage during the extended period.[90] This report analyzed only the extension, not the full eight months of daylight saving, and did not examine the use of heating fuels.[91]
I live in Arizona, we don’t observe it. When I look up at the position of the sun I can tell what time it is.
and I like it that way.
I’m always happy when DST is here-I like I like long evenings. I wish we had it year-round, because the winter dark just seems to come faster here in the hills, this is a rural area, and there isn’t enough light after paid work to do any outdoor chores and stuff.
Not for night shift workers.
Daylight saving time “saves” nothing.
The sun comes up and goes down at the same time. The only thing that is “changed” is the hands on the clock.
DST is the stupidest idea ever thought of.
Kill it for good. We will adjust and think daylight not 8:00AM.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
Yes. Education in the USA suffers every time there is a switch to DST. Children shouldn’t have to leave home in the dark at 6:30 AM to catch the bus to school.
How does that work on computers and cellphones and the like? Does it change automatically and then you have to manually change it back? The cellphones get their info from the towers, does it change back and forth when you drive over the border?
Franklin was popular while in Europe. I doubt his early to bed was to save daylight. hee hee hee
He was generally a very wise man, but this is still a dumb idea.
Not just no, but . . .
HELL NO!
I'll take the increased heart attack risk, thank you very much. I find it gloomy and depressing to have the sun set so early during the winter months. In fact, I wish DST were all year around!
I can see advocates of eliminating DST quoting that study and saying, "Do it . . . for the geezers!"
There’s a bill in MO to leap forward one more time and then stay there - making DST the new standard time and not changing anymore. It won’t take affect unless 25 (if I remember right) other states pass it as well - and supposedly there are other states thinking about it/putting bills together.
AMEN! I could jog outdoors until 10 pm!
Unless your bedroom has no windows or has black out shades or you always get up in the dark no matter what, you’re probably already living on DST.
It’s hard to sleep when the sun is streaming in your bedroom window. I know that by the time we change the clocks, I’m already used to getting up an hour earlier than I did in December.
A great advantage many of us have is that we live in the western quadrant of a time zone. Love those long summer evenings.
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