The Daylight Saving change: no savings, no point
By Ken Fisher

The US government's plan to boost energy savings by moving Daylight Saving Time forward by three weeks was apparently a waste of time and effort, as the technological foibles Americans experienced failed to give way to any measurable energy savings.

While the change caused no major infrastructure problems in the country, plenty of electronics and computer systems that were designed with the original DST switchover date (first Sunday in April) failed to update. The inconvenience was minor, and the potential savings were great. Or so we were told by the politicians behind the move.

As it turns out, the US Department of Energy (and almost everyone else except members of Congress) was correct when they predicted that there would be little energy savings. This echoed concerns voiced after a similar experiment was attempted in Australia. Critics pointed out a basic fact: the gains in the morning will be offset by the losses at night, and vice-versa, at both ends of the switch. That appears to be exactly what happened.

Reuters spoke with Jason Cuevas, spokesman for Southern Co. power, who said it plainly: "We haven't seen any measurable impact." New Jersey's Public Service Enterprise Group said the same thing: "no impact" on their business.

So while the US government pats itself on the back for at least looking busy, know that the main goal—energy conservation—has not been met. We can still argue over other supposed benefits, like the supposed reduction in crime (which returns in November?) and the fact that many people seem to simply like the change. As far as the purpose of the move is concerned, that appears to be a total flop.

Congress is tasked with reviewing the change and its effectiveness. With little to recommend it, the future of this latest DST change may ultimately hinge on Americans' preference for when we all get out of bed in the morning. Isn't arbitrary, mostly meaningless change great?

Oh, and if you're wondering why some of your colleagues showed up late for work yesterday, it's because many devices-even patched devices-shifted an hour ahead Sunday, when the change would have normally taken place.

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I COULD OF TOLD YOU *@&^)#%& THAT!!!

Cripes the only reason this asnign set up was made was because the government wasnted to help the farmers and factory workers supply more stuff for the world wars. Now a days, the whole damned thing is pointless!

It should be done away with...

How is making DLS earlier supposed to save energy when it encourages people to be out and driving longer. Hells part of it was a shceem by major store chains in hopes to keep people out an extra hour later to shop.

It's not for energy saving, it's for money gaining.

hahahah. Of course it wouldn't have saved any energy. We didn't shift the Sun, we just shifted what time the lights are turned on and off. If they're turned on at night later, then they'll be turned on in the morning earlier.
Wow, way to use your heads.

Not to mention energy used by light bulbs is so incredibly insignificant compared to all the other powered appliances we use on a daily basis that aren't affected by Daylight Savings at all. What the hell did they expect!?

So THIS is the reason we set our clocks up earlier .

It's like putting a tiny band aid over a to the bone gash that goes from stem to stern. >.>

I just wished that when the clocks were put forward in the spring, they stayed that way. I absolutely hate it when the clocks go back in October time, dark and depressing and when it starts to get dark at 3.30pm I feel like hibernating!

Who do they think they are fooling...I wish they would abolish it. Like Lotus, winter is bad enough without it getting dark so early.

Actually I just read an article (from New Scientist ) that spoke about replacing regular incandescent bulbs with fluorescent lamps. If they did that all across the US, according to them, it'd save $18 billion p.a. in electricity. They're extremely inefficient. 95% of the electricity put in to them is emitted as heat so they drain a load more energy than you'd expect.

It's true that a regular incandescent bulb's energy is emitted mainly in the form of heat; so if you're trying to save energy by switching off lights in the winter time, it just means that your furnace is going to be running longer. What congress didn't take into consideration was that in early March, many bulidings still have their heat turned on. If you take into consideration the extra oil and gas burned to make up for this loss of electric heat, the early switch to DST was probably more expensive.

I think we should ditch the whole thing; it is too much of a pain in the butt. I have folks I call in Arizona, and I am forever trying to figure out if they are an hour ahead or not...they are smart enough to blow off the whole idea...

What a waste...

We use the flouresent bulbs and noticed a huge difference in the electricity bill. As in it dropped about 10-15 dollars.

<3 them.

I bought several of those 5 year spiral flourescent low wattage bulbs...At first I thought they would look like office lighting, but after putting a lamp shade on them, the light was nice. The only downside is that there is a slight delay when turning them on, other than that I really like them...

Yeah, I thought that as well, but the light turned out to be even easier on my eyes then the incandecent ones. Heck, they even make natural sunlight ones that I use for my plants. (would rather use real sunlight, but given where I live, and that we live on the north side of the building...)

Slight delay? Huh... never noticed before. *laughs then goes to play with the lamp to see*

Yeah, I noticed that too. Although supposedly another drawback is that they can't be dimmed using a dimmer switch easily (or at all?).

That's ok.. never liked the dimmer switch anyways. XD

But then it's just either just dark or bright.

It's all about having options!

Oh you pansy! Burn a candle if you want it to be dimmer then a soft light ;P

That is what the disco ball and laser set are for...I press a button on my remote and this drops down:


Disco balls beat dimmer switches every time....

It's so much nicer having an extra hour of daylight in the afternoon though.

We were going to get that extra hour anyways....

clap on...clap off...

This is one way that we can all participate in saving the planet. I have switched out all my old bulbs to these new ones. There is no reason not to. They are a little more expensive but we used to have to change bulbs quite often and now we haven't had any of these new ones burn out and we have had them for quite a while.