Why did they really change Daylight Savings Time?

[garybeck]

I ask in part because I work for a tech company and we are still ironing out bugs that resulted from the change. It's been worse than the 2000 scare.

The Bushies have never cared much about saving energy, we all know that. In fact they oppose any policy that would decrease energy consumption.

On top of that, the California Energy Commission concluded that there is no clear evidence the change would have an effect on energy consumption. They actually concluded there's a 25% chance it would increase energy consumption (see text below).

My guess is, Bush was sitting around one day, thinking about new ways to have more power. It's not enough to control the world - I want to control the TIME too!

Any other thoughts? Why did they do it?


============
From the CA Energy Commission report:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-200-2007-001/CEC-200-2007-001.PDF

Electricity Savings from Early Daylight Saving Time
Synopsis: There is no clear evidence that electricity will be saved from the earlier start to
daylight saving time on March 11, but the 7 p.m. peak load will probably drop on the
order of 3% for the remainder of March, lowering capacity requirements. This could be
negated by a new morning spike as it was in Australia in 2000, but that appears unlikely.
In any event, capacity constraints usually do not occur in March and early November.
Summary: In 2000 and 2001, the Energy Commission created simulations to model what
would happen to electricity use if Daylight Saving Time (DST) began early. The
simulations examined how electricity use would respond to newly darker and cooler
mornings using cool dark winter mornings as a reference point, and how electricity use
would respond to lighter and warmer evenings by looking at those in the summer.
Implicit in the model is the assumption that people maintain their daily schedules rather
than change wake-up or work hours in response to either changing seasons or Daylight
Saving Time.

We found that if people do maintain their daily schedules then spring and fall Daylight
Saving Time extensions would probably cause a 2 to 5% drop in the evening peak load.
Meanwhile, morning electricity use would grow some, but probably not enough to offset
evening savings. The net effect is small and uncertain: a best guess of total net energy
savings is on the order of ! of one percent, but savings could just as well be zero.
Moreover, our statistical analysis leaves us with one chance in four there could be a very
small increase in electricity use.

The possibility of an increase in electric use is not just academic. A recent study of the
impact of DST in the state of Victoria Australia found that when DST came 2 months
early for the 2000 Olympics, residents of Victoria experienced a sharp morning spike in
electricity use resulting in an overall increase in consumption and peak load.

[woodsprite]

1. I'm with you. * is a control freak and he couldn't let anything go untouched. n/t

[Horse with no Name]

I heard it was so that people would spend more money

when they got off work. It was a gift to the golfing and outdoor recreation industry.
And I know about the bugs.
I've downloaded the patch, fixed my settings, etc. and my computer STILL reverts back to regular time every day about 7 o'clock at night.
I have to manually change the time every single day.

[frogcycle]

4. just be patient...

do that for oh, say, three weeks, and your computer will finally "learn". You just have to be patient. It's like housebreaking a puppy.

[Horse with no Name]

7. I hear you

I have some online friends in the UK and they are trying to understand why we changed the clocks. I assured them that my computer was resistant to the change.

[Canuckistanian]

8. Bingo!

I heard a radio interview with a guy who wrote on this very subject.

He said that it was sold as an energy saving scheme for farmers, yet farmers have always hated it.

It was basically some golf clubs who formed an early lobby effort to get the original change.

And, predictably enough, DST has NEVER been shown to save a single watt of power, when compared to areas that never had it (like our province of Saskatchewan).

[hunter]

14. I think you are right.

People are more likely to go out and spend money when the sun is shining.

When it's dark outside they just stay home and watch television.

[onenote]

2. did it occur to you to do any research on this? Apparently not.

I dislike this administration as much as anyone, but speculating that everything that you don't like or agree with is somehow chimpy-inspired power grab just makes you look foolish, especially when the evidence to the contrary is and has been out in the public for quite awhile. Ten seconds on google would've have shown you that the idea of changing DST originated principally with Ed Markey (D-Mass).

Here's Markey's explanation of why he pushed for this:

The change come due to the 2005 Energy Bill that was first introduced by Representative Edward Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) to save energy. An analysis of the Upton-Markey Daylight Saving Time amendment by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that by 2020, the amendment would cumulatively: save consumers $4.4 billion dollars, avoid the need to build more than 3 large (330 megawatt) electric power plants, avoid consumption of 279 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and avoid nearly 10.8 million metric tons of the carbon emissions that lead to Global Warming. This is because people consume less electricity in the evening if it’s still light, and that cuts peak demand during the early evening hours.

“In addition to the benefits of energy saving, less crime, fewer traffic fatalities, more recreation time and increased economic activity, day light saving just brings a smile to everybody’s faces,” said Rep. Markey.


The Upton-Markey amendment is supported by studies which show that early daylight saving time and longer days decrease the number of fatal traffic accidents, reduce crime rates, and provide relief for individuals suffering from “night blindness.” A broad coalition of groups including organizations like the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores and the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation Fighting Blindness, and an array of small businesses which support American pastimes, from barbecue to baseball to boating support the legislation to extend daylight saving.

[garybeck]

5. Yes I did. Did you read my post? Apparantly not.

Evidently the CA Commission did not agree with your study, which seems to be one-sided. They are quick to talk about the energy savings at night but fail to mention the increase in the morning. The CA report disagrees with the savings at night anyway.

and by the way, what if I had not done any research? is it a crime to ask a question without doing any research? give me a freaking break dude. get off your high horse. people are supposed to be able to ask questions, aren't they?

[onenote]

6. you assumed that this was some bushie plot

You look pretty silly.

And in what alternate universe did you get the idea that this was my study. YOu asked why DST was changed and I quoted the explanation given by the guy who pushed the idea, Ed Markey. I don't know whether he's right or wrong and don't care. I was answering YOUR question.

[garybeck]

9. I did nothing of the sort

I said "my guess is..." and I was half joking. If I "assumed" that was the answer why would I ask the question?

I look pretty silly?

You look pretty rude, for misquoting me and attacking me just for asking a simple question. Silly me, I thought that's what discussion forums were for.

Anyway I'd rather be silly than rude.

[onenote]

11. you can try but you really can't dig your way out

First, complaints about being misquoted from the person that asserted that Ed Markey's words (clearly identified as such in my post) were "your study" is actually pretty funny.

Second, I criticized you for "speculating" that the DST change was a bushie idea. You said "my guess is" that it was chimpy's idea -- guessing, speculating? Maybe you see a big difference. Plus, you did mention chimpy twice in your email, which makes your suggestion that you were just joking pretty suspect. Who was the "they" (as in "Why did they do it then") you were referring to?

[1620rock]

3. I can't figure it out either...makes no sense...must be the power..

..trip * is on as you suggested. :shrug:

[LiberalFighter]

10. So more people will play golf

That is why Indiana went to Daylight Saving Time last year.

[Delphinus]

12. I could "personalize" it and say they did it ...

just to fuck with my body, but I know it's bigger than that. ;(

Here's a link to a blogger that questions the same thing you do:
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/11/think-daylight-saving-time-saves-energy-think-again-or-not/

Time is a strange thing. I'm not talking about the concept of time the way Einstein would think about it, but the time on the clocks. What the clocks around the world tell us is only something that we have all agreed upon. There is no natural 1:37 pm, it's a human construct. And, as such, we can magically make it be 12:37 pm if we want to. But we have to agree on it. And this agreed-upon change happens twice a year in parts of America. In much of America today, people are once again trying to remember how to set their wristwatches and stove clocks ahead one hour. Why? Because last night we started daylight saving time for 2007. But how did this time change start? Do we all benefit equally from the change? And what does this have to do with green cars? And why did we "spring forward" three weeks earlier this year and will "fall back" a week later in the year?
{snip}

[CabalPowered]

13. More time to shop.

That's about it.

[Quantess]

15. I don't care what anyone says,

I love Daylight Savings Time, and I get a little sad in the fall when we have to switch to Standard Time. Yes, I think I am a sufferer of seasonal depression, a little bit. I hope someday we will have Daylight Savings Time year round. B-)