Saving daylight? You’re wasting energy!
Foolishness ruled by
ignorance.
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…
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…
The energy-savings numbers often cited by lawmakers and others come from research conducted in the 1970s. Yet a key difference between now and the ’70s — or, for that matter, Ben Franklin’s time — is the prevalence of air conditioning.
People as simple-minded as Congress will want to study the question for another couple of decades before giving up a magic bullet solution like Daylight Savings Time.
Thanks, Helen
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…
The energy-savings numbers often cited by lawmakers and others come from research conducted in the 1970s. Yet a key difference between now and the ’70s — or, for that matter, Ben Franklin’s time — is the prevalence of air conditioning.
People as simple-minded as Congress will want to study the question for another couple of decades before giving up a magic bullet solution like Daylight Savings Time.
Thanks, Helen
Posted: Thu - February 28, 2008 at 07:09 AM