Does extended daylight saving time help?

William Atkins
Saturday, 08 March 2008 19:29

Science - Energy

Another study has already been conducted that is similar in nature to the UCSB study.
 
American environmental economists Hendrik Wolff and Ryan Kellogg, at the University of Washington in Seattle, studied the use of electrical power during the 2000 Sydney (Australia) Olympics).

Part of Australia used extended daylight savings time in order to make more daylight for the games, while other parts of the country did not participate.

Wolff and Kellogg compared energy consumption in the states of Victoria and South Australia because Victoria used extended daylight savings time but South Australia didn’t.

They found that more electricity was consumed in the mornings and less electricity was consumed in the evenings. However, they found that the two effects cancel each other out.

Wolff stated that "Basically if people wake up early in the morning and go to bed earlier, they do save artificial illumination at night and reduce electricity consumption in the evening. Our study confirmed that effect. But we also found that more electricity is consumed in the morning. In the end, these two effects wash each other out." [National Geographic: “Extended Daylight Saving Time Not an Energy Saver?”]

On Sunday, March 9, 2008 people in the United States will “roll forward” (spring forward) their clocks an hour at 2 a.m. and begin the country's second consecutive year of extended daylight saving time.

Many other countries in the world also use daylight saving time, or a form of it.

The U.S. Department of Energy is evaluating extended daylight savings time in the United States to determine if it does actually increase or decrease energy consumption.

Many other studies have been performed to determine the usefulness or lack of usefulness for daylight savings time. Many factors must be taken into account besides energy consumption.

Some of these factors are crime and public safety, accidents, agriculture, entertainment, society (in general), health, economic factors, etc.

For instance, daylight saving time allows more time for exercise but gives people more exposure to ultraviolet rays from the Sun.

No doubt, it is not an easy question to answer, especially when more than just energy consumption is considered.