Did shifting Daylight Savings Time save money? (Congress, lawyers, Indiana)

[Gary Siete]

Legislation shifted Daylight Savings Time in 2007 from:

First Sunday in April - Last Sunday in October
to
2nd Sunday in March - 1st Sunday in November

It was supposed to save money & energy usage but I haven't seen any studies showing a change in either. The National Association of Convenience Stores lobbied for the change thinking that it would boost morning coffee & donut sales.
I'd rather be like Arizona and get rid of it all together.

[Arus]

It did, when we had incandescent light and fixtures, but with today's light bulbs, no one has done enough research to see.

Its now seen as more of a safety issue; longer daylight hours means more afternoon light, means people do not get into accidents as often.


Wikipedia has a great summary:
Daylight saving time - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But view the footnotes to see if they help you understand.

[juppiter]

Originally Posted by Gary Siete

Legislation shifted Daylight Savings Time in 2007 from:

First Sunday in April - Last Sunday in October
to
2nd Sunday in March - 1st Sunday in November

It was supposed to save money & energy usage but I haven't seen any studies showing a change in either. The National Association of Convenience Stores lobbied for the change thinking that it would boost morning coffee & donut sales.
I'd rather be like Arizona and get rid of it all together.

I agree, I'd rather it be done away with. I think that if it saved money, it was negligible.

Especially living in the Northeast, it's just so depressing when it's getting colder and all of a sudden DST ends and it's both cold AND dark at 5:00 sharp.

[North Beach Person]

It's for the children.

[sailordave]

Back in the 70s when the study was done, we didn't have nearly as many businesses and people working 24/7. I honestly believe Congress, Lawyers, Doctors, and high level business executives want to continue DST because it gives them more time to play golf.

[GregW]

I like the change because it gives the kids Trick or Treating on Halloween more daylight.

Otherwise is the sun fluorescent? By the end of winter I kind of forget what they mean by sunlight.

[uggabugga]

indiana spent thousands of man-hours, year after year, in legislative wrangling over whether to adopt DST. in 2005 they finally made the plunge, although most people seemed to oppose it.

this is worth a peek:

Daylight Saving Wastes Energy, Study Says - WSJ.com

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

[Gary Siete]

Indiana is an interesting case. It is on Eastern Time while neighboring Illinois is on Central. Does Indiana use more or less energy or have fewer accidents? Tennessee is also on two zones. If we shift DST to suit Chatanooga then Nashville (only 120 miles away) is also shifted an hour out - to Chattanooga's old time.

[Alley01]

There is no way it saves any money in the 21st century with all our gadgets, etc. we are using more electricity than ever. I don't know if it really cuts down on accidents...it just makes me grumpy when we change time. It really just needs to be done away with. There is no point to it anymore.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by sailordave

Back in the 70s when the study was done, we didn't have nearly as many businesses and people working 24/7.

That is what I think as well.

Originally Posted by Gary Siete

Indiana is an interesting case. It is on Eastern Time while neighboring Illinois is on Central. Does Indiana use more or less energy or have fewer accidents? Tennessee is also on two zones. If we shift DST to suit Chatanooga then Nashville (only 120 miles away) is also shifted an hour out - to Chattanooga's old time.

"What time is it in Indiana?" Google this and you will find a plethora of hits.

What time is it in Indiana?

Indiana Time Zone

And many more.

Indiana is partly the eastern time zone and partly in the central time zone. In the past, some of the eastern time zone areas did not switch to DST. Therefore, part of the year they were in synch with Illinois and part of the year not. The area near Chicago, that is the Indiana suburbs of Chicago, has long been on central time and has always switched to DST to keep on the same times as Chicago as a lot of people there work in Chicago. It gets dark very early in the winter so far east in the central time zone.