For decades, conventional wisdom has held that daylight-saving time reduces energy use. But a unique situation in Indiana provides evidence challenging that view: Springing forward may actually waste energy.
- Ben Franklin may not having been saving much candlewax by springing forward.
Indiana’s change of heart gave University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor Matthew Kotchen and Ph.D. student Laura Grant a unique way to see how the time shift affects energy use. Using more than seven million monthly meter readings from Duke Energy Corp., covering nearly all the households in southern Indiana for three years, they were able to compare energy consumption before and after counties began observing daylight-saving time. Readings from counties that had already adopted daylight-saving time provided a control group that helped them to adjust for changes in weather from one year to the next.
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.
A 2007 study by economists Hendrik Wolff and Ryan Kellogg of the temporary extension of daylight-saving in two Australian territories for the 2000 Summer Olympics also suggested the clock change increases energy use.
That isn’t what Benjamin Franklin would have expected. In 1784, he observed what an “immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.” (Mr. Franklin didn’t propose setting clocks forward, instead he satirically suggested levying a tax on window shutters, ringing church bells at sunrise and, if that didn’t work, firing cannons down the street in order to rouse Parisians out of their beds earlier.)
11 comments:
I am shocked by the findings of this study. First of all I wasn't aware that at least part of the original intentions of day light savings was to reduce energy consumption. Secondly I am surprised by the conclusiveness of the study done in Indiana. It may be time to disband this system in order to save energy and millions of Americans money.
this is a very interesting story. i had absolutely no idea of what the real purpose of daylight savings time was. but i still think that Benjamin Franklin had good intentions back when he created it. After finding out how much extra money and energy we use just by switching a clock an hour ahead, maybe a change should be made to keep to the standard time. I feel that too many people are used to the new way and like having the extra hour of daylight but there is obviously a sufficient argument that will lead us to going back to the standard time.
I never really understood the point of day light savings. I do know that it is a hassle to make sure you change all your clocks and always being nervous the next morning that you’re not late or early depending on the season. If we really pay that much more and use that much more energy because of day light savings then I think we should change that and just go off a standard time.
I find this very interesting because I always thought that daylight savings was originally used to give farmer's more daylight so they could work longer. I think it makes a lot of sense that pushing the clocks forward an hour uses more energy. I find that when I wake up in the morning it is still dark out and I need to turn the lights on as opposed to using the sunlight. I knew that they were considering getting rid of daylight savings time as it no longer seems to be necessary but I had no idea it was impacting our energy consumption as well. Parts of the world don't use daylight savings time and I think we should stop using it as well.
Before reading this article, I had no idea what the purpose of daylight savings time was. I guess it made sense that it would be beneficial to "the city of Paris" back in the day since they were running on candlelight but in today's world I no longer see the need for daylight savings. Not only are we using more energy by springing forward our clocks but now we are relying on electricity for early mornings in the dark and are using more heating and cooling appliances for cool mornings and blistering hot afternoons. Also, many countries are no longer using daylight savings time and I think it would be appropriate for us to do the same.
I never really thought of how daylight-savings impacted the amount of energy we use on a daily basis. I feel that if it really is having such an impact on energy usage and costing more, then we should consider changing our system to standard time. As someone mentioned above, in the mornings now that it's dark and cooler out, we tend to use more electricity and heat; which results in higher bills etc. The stop of daylight-saving time could really help people out economically.
I don't really know how to comment on this topic. I have mixed feelings about switching between day light and standard time. Clearly study shows that the purpose of switching to so called "saving mode" doesn't work and is highly inefficient.
I don't really know how to comment on this topic/issue. I would say based on the research so called saving mode with is switching the time etc doesn't work and is highly inefficient. The only country that got rid of changing the time is Russia.
Ever since I was younger I always listened to my parents for when I needed to set clocks either back or forward for daylight savings. Now I understand why we actually do this. It makes sense that Franklin believed this would save everyone money since they only used candles back then. It was probably also proven that it was beneficial. The only thing is, as time progresses so does technology and the amount to run homes and businesses with electricity is costly. Since we have been in such a routine for changing the clocks we never sat back and realized if daylight savings was even worth it. Matthew Kotchen and Laura Grant did in fact prove it was a waste of energy and money. Now we must come to reasonings and see if people will actually stay on standard time all year and save ourselves a couple bucks.
Before reading this article I really didn't understand the point of daylight savings but after I read this post I researched it further on the internet, I thought the whole point of day light SAVINGS was to SAVE. I'm sure they must have had good intentions when it was implemented but no real studies were done to actually see if it was worth it.
I am very surprised that day-light savings actually does not save energy. I didn't know that this was the intention of changing the clocks but after seeing the findings of this study, maybe it would be wiser to end this ritual. Either way it has never really bothered to to change the clocks back or forward.
Post a Comment