04 April 2007

If only they'd ask ME ...

From USA Today:

NEW YORK -- The early onset of daylight saving time in the USA this year may have been for naught.

The move to turn the clocks forward by an hour on March 11 rather than the usual date in early April was mandated by the federal government as an energy-saving effort -- but the move appears to have had little effect on power usage.

"We haven't seen any measurable impact," said Jason Cuevas, spokesman for Southern Co., one of the nation's largest power companies, echoing comments from several large utilities.

That's because households may draw less electricity for lights at night, but will use more power early in the day as they wake to darker and chillier mornings.

Duh.

Just for the record: I think the spin of the earth and the sun do an absolutely bang-up job of day and night. How about we just drop daylight-savings time entirely? It would save us all the hassle of changing every clock in the house, the car and work twice each year. And what about that week or two just after the stupid change, forward or back, where most of us have to deal with the mind-and-body-clock disruption? Some things -- like the sun, the earth and the moon -- just don't need our assistance.


2 comments:

Boldly Serving Up Wheat Grass said...

Couldn't agree more. I once read that some senator once publicly objected to daylight savings time on the grounds that, if the day were longer, our window blinds would wear out faster. Typical mental ability for a senator, I guess.

Kevin Wolf said...

One report I saw said doctors were concerned that the shock of the twice-a-year shift in the time was more harmful than it was worth.

I wish they had asked you.