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Thursday, April 07, 2005

Yeah--just pass a law creating more daylight

Surely he knows there won't actually be more daylight...
"Extending daylight-saving time makes sense, especially with skyrocketing energy costs," said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Michigan, who along with Rep. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, co-sponsored the measure.
...
"The more daylight we have, the less electricity we use," said Markey, who cited Transportation Department estimates that showed the two-month extension would save the equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil a day.
-- CNN

I couldn't find the mentioned estimates on the DOT website; I assume the supposed savings come from assuming that people go to bed at the same time either way, but with daylight savings time they turn the lights on an hour later. But won't they then turn the lights ON an hour earlier? And I know that in late June here in Michigan, when it doesn't get dark until after 10 pm EDT, I find it difficult to get to sleep by midnight, whereas in the winter it isn't a problem. In addition, furnaces in schools and other buildings used mostly during the day will have to be cranked up an hour earlier (solar time), taking less advantage of solar heating.

I remember the winter of 1974, when the country went on year-round daylight savings time. It was brutally cold walking to school in the dark. And on those days in March in November they want to add, cars will be harder to start, and drivers will be more likely to run into fog on their commutes.

Rather than doing something substantive to save energy, like a big hike in the gasoline tax, Congress thinks it can get away with just fiddling with the clocks. So why not two hours, year round? BTW, the supposed 10,000 barrels of oil is one-half of one percent of US daily use.

Personally, I'm in favor of everyone going on Greenwich Mean Time--no more time zones or daylight savings time.