Further evidence that Daylight Saving Time does not save energy.
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.
“I’ve never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this,” says Mr. Kotchen, who presented the paper at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference this month.
. . .
Their research showed that while an extra hour of daylight in the evenings may mean less electricity is spent on lights, it also means that houses are warmer in the summer when people come home from work. Conversely, during daylight-saving time’s cooler months, people may crank up the thermostats more in the morning.
At least we know we were right for the past 30 years before we made the switch to be wrong like everybody else. I know, I know, someone will be along promptly with reasons for Daylight Saving Time other than energy savings. The rationales for DST have been almost as plentiful and elusive as the case for War in Iraq. (All those jobs pouring in from adoption of DST, for example?)
Didn’t that amount to $3.19 per household? If you don’t have $3.19 (less than half the price of a Jack and Diet in downtown Indy) you have some serious issues and should probably get some professional help or a new job.
If the point of the exercise was to *save* energy and it actually uses *more* energy, then the exercise was pretty pointless.
Exactly. Quit calling it “Daylight SAVING Time” and call it “More Golfing Time”. Besides, the goal has never been to help people pay less on their bills. The goal was to reduce national energy consumption. We now have pretty solid evidence showing that DST makes our country consume MORE ENGERGY.
With this finding, do we now have a good case to remove DST on the national level?
Also, I wonder if “greener” countries than ours will look at repealing DST because it causes MORE DAMAGE to the enviroment than standard time?
Doug,
The point of the exercise was to bring this state into the 20th Century.
And fiddling with our clocks every 6 months purportedly to save energy while really expending more energy brings us into the 20th century how?
I was surprised the Star put the article on top of the front page. Sure enough, today a letter from Jack Howey criticized the Star for doing so. “I believe it will, though, raise once again the outcry of Hoosiers who rant against DST because it is a change, even if it does promote economic development and the creation of jobs.” These zealots don’t like their gospel to be questioned. They are very predictable. Notice he refers to DST not EDT. In the article Gov. Daniels states he wanted DST for economic reasons not for energy conservation. But in a August 2005 letter the Indiana Chamber of Commerce said that DST would provide energy savings based on a California Energy Commission study.
Energy conservation has always been the cornerstone of the DST advocates arguments. It was in WW I and WW II and more recently it was the primary reason for extending the DST period from 32 to 35 weeks. As part of that law USDOT was tasked to study what effect extending the period had on energy usage and to report their findings to congress. I don’t believe they have reported as of now.
I wrote a letter to the Star on Thursday but I will be surprised if it is published. The mass media most often ignores the people who question what is now the accepted wisdom.
I am fully retired now and can set my own schedule. But I believe Eastern Daylight Time is wrong for Indiana and that it will unnecessarily burden future unsuspecting generations just like it has for people in Detroit, Cincinnati, and Louisville. Population growth in an indicator of economic health and these cities all lost population according to the 2000 census and they all observe double daylight time.
For this reason I will once again take advantage of Doug’s good nature and use this third space he so graciously provides.
I wrote the following article with the intent of reawakening interest in the subject. I submitted it to the Star but it was probably too long to publish. Some of you have seen the article but for you that haven’t it points out the fallacy of the arguments for EDT.
Dubious Distinction
On March 9, 2008 we will advance our clocks one hour and for the third year in a row most morning commuters will have to do so in the dark – just when they were getting a glimpse of daylight at the end of the road. Indianapolis has the latest sunrises of any major city in the country because Eastern Daylight Time amounts to double daylight time for our geographic location (86 degrees W. Longitude). It could be worse. Hoosiers living in Terre Haute and now Vincennes have the latest summer sunrises of any place in America. It hasn’t always been so. On March 9, 2005, Indianapolis’s sunrise was at 7:05 EST but this year it will occur at 8:05 EDT. By comparison, the sun will rise in New York City at 7:17 EDT, in Chicago at 7:12 CDT, and Los Angeles at 7:11 PDT. It is readily apparent our clocks were better aligned with the rest of the nation’s clocks before we started to observe Eastern Daylight Time. These abnormally late sunrises haven’t made our winters longer. It just seems so.
Hoosiers will spend 2,400,000 hours this year resetting clocks. Is it really worth this effort to be on the same time as Bangor, Maine? Has double daylight time lived up to what was promised? We were told it would end the confusion about Indiana time but now most people are confused about whether to advance their clocks or to set them back an hour. Pity those that fail to do either. We were told it would save energy but if it has it would be the first time double daylight savings has ever done so. We were told it would lower the crime rate but now Marion County has a crime wave of historical proportions. We were told it would be good for business but now we are an extra hour removed from the center of the nation’s market place. We were told it would be good for the economy but now lawmakers are trying to figure out how to raise taxes because of dwindling revenue. We were told it would place more Hoosiers on the same time but before 2006 Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Evansville, Gary and Chicago clocks were set to the same time most of the year and now there is always an hour difference between the Hoosiers in the eastern zone and the Hoosiers in the central zone. We were told it would make evening driving safer but we weren’t told that driving in the darker mornings would be more hazardous. We were told that there would be more daylight for evening walks but we weren’t told that there would be less daylight for morning jogs.
We, the people of Indiana, have not been treated fairly. An unnatural clock has been imposed on us without our consent. No candidate for a state office campaigned to have Indiana divided by a time zone boundary but the federal government, acting on the request of a private lobbying organization, did so in 1961. No candidate for state office campaigned for Eastern Daylight Time specifically. Candidate Daniels campaigned for generic daylight savings but many of us believed he preferred Central Daylight Time. Lawmakers had to vote not knowing if they were voting for Eastern or Central daylight. The measure failed to pass twice but was resurrected again and passed on the third vote when a representative reneged on a promise he had made to his constituents. A matter such as this that affects each of us in very personal ways should be decided not by the whims of special interests but by the people at the ballot box after a vigorous and open public debate.
I knew Doug was sick when this article sat for a couple days before he posted it. Glad you’re feeling better. :)
See, this is proof I wasn’t just whining. Flu kicked my butt.
Couple things I think I have learned in the Indiana time debate is that two criteria have won out consistently with the majority of people: predictablity and conformity.Even if people hate 9:30 pm summer sunsets they will choose that over feeling isolated with sunrise/sunset schedule they prefer.Also people see unity as being unified within the state,and most people would choose to be the same time as the majority of the state. CT proponents also reason this but see no way of forcing the whole state to turn to CT,so they’ve hit a dead end for the immediate future. Future CT statewide observance would require an unexpected reverse coup such as the govenor pulled off to instate DST.But the problem is DST is a state- controlled issue and TZ in a federal issue,so I don’t know how that could ever get done without realigning TZs in contigious states ,and it would be seen most likely as ‘just for the sake of pleasing Indiana’. .
The two areas of the state that are now observing CT have nearly unanimous consent (except not sure about Perry County,which is following a new pattern,and St Joseph County seems truly divided,but won’t go to CT by itself,and ‘divided’ has meant ET wins) Whenever there has been divided opinion there has been great emotion-packed battles and most people opt to conform with what most people in Indiana are already observing,EST/EDT.
These are my own observations and I always point out I don’t live in the state so I have no emotional involvement,but it all has surely been a unique and compelling subject for debate the last couple years.The process has seemed fair and honestly decided with USDOT in charge,except county commissioners should not be the final arbiters of whether of county opts to apply for a TZ change.But that’s the way the system has been set up.
Lou said:
Correct, and in a way, that is as it should be. The whole reason we got away from “local time” and went to time zones was for predictablity and conformity.
It is just sad that:
A: We are in the wrong time zone (Eastern rather than Central) because of the state not stepping up and choosing one.
and
B: The rest of the nation that we’re trying to conform with is used to DST, and that is a waste of energy.
I personally don’t care if all of the experts, all of the naysayers on either side, or all of the politicians have any more brilliant arguments or reasons one way or the other.
For no other reason other than I have the ability to set an alarm clock, and the ability to go to sleep when I am tired, I see no reason NOT to flip a coin and be done with it.
Never have so many argued so much about so little.
Settle it all you Einsteins, and call me to let me know what time it is, I’ll handle the rest from there just fine, thankyou.
This is proof that the state should have gone into the central time zone.
Amen to that Rev. AJB. The states of Arizona and Hawaii have been right for a long time too as they do not change clocks.
Lou, the USDOT is the problem. They did not do things right and should not be involved in a local or state issue.
It’s really beyond me why the majority of Indiana should be in the Eastern Time Zone. What’s the rationale for this? Does being in the Central Time Zone mark one as being in “fly-over country”? Believe me, Hoosiers aren’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes. I happen to live in Charlotte, NC, now and sunrise at this time of year is at around 6:50 AM. In Indianapolis, sunrise is at about 7:10 AM. On Sunday, sun-up in Indianapolis will be at around 8:05 AM. Is this really necessary? Why should people who get up at 5:30 every morning to go to work have to wait for so long for the sun to come up? As for Daylight Saving Time, you can take it or leave it, but why should the majority of the state put up with living in a time zone that’s so out of sync with how far west the state really is?
Jack,
That is because Hoosiers decided in the 60’s that if DST is good for MOST of the year, then it should be good for the whole year. Indiana has observed DST for 50 years, but unlike everyone else, we did it year-round by moving to EST from CST.
Now, we have double DST during the summer because so many people wanted 10:00pm daylight. (Yes, I know the sun sets before that, but it still is “light” at 10:00pm during a few weeks of the summer.
Jack,One would only need to talk to an ardent ETZ to find out why Indiana needs to be in the eastern timezone to find out the vreasons. Such things as; energy savings, increased family recreation time, health issues, and my favorite not being thought of as “backwoods hicks”. Now do I believe any of those NO!
Lou, I have said this before and will say it again Saint Joseph County being in the eastern timezone is currently ay best a cease-fire situation. the division simply comes from those tied to Elkhart County. If (and I will say if is a big word) intermodals come to LaPorte County this in my humble opion be the start of the end of St. Joe/Elkhart. though maybe the decline of the RV industry already has that distinction.
I have heard a lot of people talking about not wanting to go to central time because the sun would go down so early in the winter that it would be depressing. However, I personally feel that with EDT, the sun going down so late in the summer is a nuisance. I also have a “good old” Hoosier work ethic and I am embarrassed by how non-productive I am for the first week or two of DST since I am tired all the time. And nobody wants to point out the fact that this study proves that Indiana was RIGHT before we went to DST and everybody else in the Nation was wrong. Since when have Hoosiers wanted to conform to something that makes no sense? I’ve heard people who are transplants from California who said that the one good thing about Indiana used to be that we didn’t mess around with our clocks twice a year. They didn’t see us as some “backwoods hicks” or anything of the like.
Now I think it is time for Indiana to step up and go back to the way we were. It would send a message to the rest of the nation that we don’t just follow the herd and that we do things that make sense. I see nothing that would make more sense with the knowledge obtained from this new study than to repeal DST in Indiana because it does NOT live up to what it is supposed to do, and that is save energy. And if the rest of the Nation does not follow our lead, then they are the “backwoods hicks” who don’t know what’s best for them.
Congress permanently adopted daylight saving time (DST) in 1966, I’ve become habituated to the seasonal clock-changing mnemonic of “spring forward, fall back.” I never (pardon the pun) took the time to ponder the origins or latent nonsense of Daylight Saving Time, but now its necessary! In Indiana, where part of the state observes DST and part does not, farmers have opposed a move to DST. Even I think about Farmers, who must wake with the sun no matter what time their clock says, are greatly inconvenienced by having to change their schedule in order to sell their crops to people who observe daylight saving time.
Time moves forward only. Indiana was just fine having a clock go in one direction only all year long. Why conform? Because other people have issues with it? And what sickens me is this bit about the state being all messed up with some counties in different times…before the change took place. Now that we’ve changed, it is even worse? Plus the reason for change stating that we would save on energy consumption not only fell short, it sank under. Truckers have said it was no bother; they knew when they hit Indiana it would be this or that time. Are administrative level businessmen incapable of figuring it out? Indiana should have remained as it was simply because it was fine. It wasn’t broken and the “fix” didn’t fix anything, but did, indeed, break things. We should return to having our clocks go forward only, not pretend that time moves back and forth with the seasons. What next? Do we start saying spring is fall and fall is summer?