You Can Spring Forward, But You Won't Save Energy
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 03. 8.08
TreeHugger Labs proved conclusively two years ago that Daylight Saving Time was counterproductive; now it appears that other research is backing us up. When the idea was thought up, the biggest use of electricity was lighting, so it actually did save energy; now, with population shifts and upsizing of housing, air conditioning predominates and more we burn more electricity. An Australian researcher said "Basically if people wake up early in the morning and go to bed earlier, they do save artificial illumination at night and reduce electricity consumption in the evening. Our study confirmed that effect. But we also found that more electricity is consumed in the morning. In the end, these two effects wash each other out." An Indiana study concluded that "daylight saving time did save on lighting use but that heating and air-conditioning use more than offset any gains." ::National Geographic
That's annoying.
aside from that, it's all a way to get americans to consume more. for many many years the candy industry lobbied the govt to slide it to include halloween. this year, they got their wish!
I wok in the bike industry in Australia. we notice a significant increase in workload over the daylight savings period, some stores even restrict their managers from taking annual leave during daylight savings.
Personally, I'd hardly ever go swimming or rock climbing if it weren't for that extra hour of light after work.
with social trends leaving people with less spare time, having an extra hour of light in the evening is important for encouraging people to lead an active lifestyle.
Sorry but I need daylight open the windows and doors will save money get away from AC would be the best thing we could do.
This is all pretzel logic. Heating and air conditioning have nothing to do with daylight. The real benefit is to outdoor recreation — sure people drive to the softball and ultimate and soccer games — but at least we are outside, in nature, where we were meant to be. This cynical snarky arrrogant righteousness is really a turn off. Goodbye treehugger.
"TreeHugger research indicates that eliminating Daylight Savings Time could go a long way to solving the problem of Global Warming."
Are you guys really serious here? It’s becoming harder and harder to take TreeHugger seriously when I see things like this. There are over 70 countries that have instituted DST, and we're pretty much the only one who is so completely addicted to air conditioning that it negates the positive effects of DST.
The problem isn't blaming the government or lobbyists for DST, the problem is Americans use so much energy cooling their homes that it negates the positive benefits of DST that the rest of the world enjoy. Step out of your little bubble and you'll see that, worldwide, DST saves mountains of energy and makes good economic sense--it costs nothing to institute, no tax or carbon credit is required to make it economically practical, and it does the trick nicely where most "energy policies" fail. Even Bush backed it, which tells you that it can’t possibly take any real work to institute.
I’ve been to Japan and most of Europe and air conditioning is still treated as a luxury and used sparingly. Only when it’s grossly abused does it neuter DST. Wake up America, you can’t have your consumption cake and eat it too!
Now go get in your Hummer, drive 50 miles to your home which you probably left air conditioned all day so you could get home and instantly have it cool, go to your computer which you probably left on all day long because you don’t like to wait for it to reboot, and tell me what a hippie crank I am—that is the American way after all. The one positive benefit of this is that you’re all so politically lazy I don’t have to worry about you calling your local Congressman and trying to get DST repealed. Most of you don’t even know who that is!
LA: If you read the post that was linked to you would find that it was an April Fools Joke.
"TreeHugger research indicates that eliminating Daylight Savings Time could go a long way to solving the problem of Global Warming."
Are you guys really serious here? It’s becoming harder and harder to take TreeHugger seriously when I see things like this. There are over 70 countries that have instituted DST, and we're pretty much the only one who is so completely addicted to air conditioning that it negates the positive effects of DST.
The problem isn't blaming the government or lobbyists for DST, the problem is Americans use so much energy cooling their homes that it negates the positive benefits of DST that the rest of the world enjoy. Step out of your little bubble and you'll see that, worldwide, DST saves mountains of energy and makes good economic sense--it costs nothing to institute, no tax or carbon credit is required to make it economically practical, and it does the trick nicely where most "energy policies" fail. Even Bush backed it, which tells you that it can’t possibly take any real work to institute.
I’ve been to Japan and most of Europe and air conditioning is still treated as a luxury and used sparingly. Only when it’s grossly abused does it neuter DST. Wake up America, you can’t have your consumption cake and eat it too!
Now go get in your Hummer, drive 50 miles to your home which you probably left air conditioned all day so you could get home and instantly have it cool, go to your computer which you probably left on all day long because you don’t like to wait for it to reboot, and tell me what a hippie crank I am—that is the American way after all. The one positive benefit of this is that you’re all so politically lazy I don’t have to worry about you calling your local Congressman and trying to get DST repealed. Most of you don’t even know who that is!
Chomsky, the reason that AC is a luxury in those countries is because their Governments tax the living daylights out of energy. It's very naive to think that lobbyists aren't the problem, just look at the boondoggle Ethanol has become. Central planning from the government will always fail, simply because it cannot account for human action. DST is just another failed government program.