Congress might have finally moved the one-hour “fall back in the fall” time switch past Halloween so young trick-or-treaters don’t have to roam the streets in the dark, but it’s time to chuck the idea of Daylight Saving Time altogether. Why? Because it wastes energy and creates pollution.
The concept has been around since the days of Benjamin Franklin, who saw it as a way to reduce candle tallow consumption for household lighting. But while Daylight Saving Time, or DST, might have made sense purely from a lighting perspective in the 18th Century, it doesn’t work in a 21st Century society that also uses electricity for heating and cooling, according to research by Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
“Our main finding is that — contrary to the policy’s intent — DST increases residential electricity demand,” they write in “Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Indiana.” “Estimates of the overall increase are approximately 1 percent, but we find that the effect is not constant throughout the DST period. DST causes the greatest increase in electricity consumption in the fall, when estimates range between 2 and 4 percent.”
Kotchen and Grant say the problem arises because, while households might be using less electricity for lighting, they’re waking up at colder parts of the day in the fall and winter and adjusting their thermostats to heat up the house more (a similar effect applies to air-conditioning use in the summer). Using data from Indiana alone, they found that DST increased energy costs by $3.29 per year per household … or by more than $8.96 million statewide.
Because the majority of Indiana’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants, there’s a social cost to the added pollution this extra consumption creates, Kotchen and Grant add. They calculate that amount at $1.7 million to $5.5 million a year … and that’s for Indiana alone. Imagine the impact nationwide.
Maybe a repeal of the Daylight Saving Time act is one more item we can ask to be added to president-elect Obama’s to-do list?
You can learn more about the quirks and costs of DST by listening to an National Public Radio interview with Kotchen earlier this year. The full text (PDF) of Kotchen and Grant’s research paper is here.
YES! I knew it! DST never made sense to me, between turning the lights on as soon as I walk in the door and the messing with my internal clock.
I agree, Becky. I always enjoyed the DJ in Chicago who, years ago, tried to confuse his listeners every year by offering this “easy-to-remember” saying: “Spring ahead in the fall, fall back in the spring.” Makes about as much sense as the real version, I think. : )
Fantastic news. I hate Daylight Savings Time. It gets dark way to early. I always thought it had to do with the kids who worked on farms and they needed the extra morning light. Makes much more sense about the candle usage. Thanks for the info.