History of Daylight Saving Time
It seems like only yesterday that we discussed the end of Daylight Saving Time, or DST, a brilliant campaign to convince people that we’re getting more daylight each day, when in reality we’ve simply changed our clocks and then forgotten about it within two weeks. Actuality, it was only back in October, or less than 5 months ago.
Indeed, the new rules for DST beginning in 2007 meant an extra four or five weeks of DST each year. There will now be a total of 238 days of DST, compared to a total of 210 days of DST in 2006 under the previous rules, and the U. S. will remain on DST for about 65% of the year. So think about it, DST will be in effect for most of the year. It might be more significant to recognize Daylight Losing Time.
DST begins each year at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday in March in most of the United States and its territories, however, there are some places that have not bought into this campaign: it is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands nor the state of Arizona except for the Navajo Indian Reservation, which does observe DST. You can read my original full article here.
New this year: an answer to the age-old question “Does DST actually save energy?”
A Depart of Energy study was released in early November 2008 showing that daylight savings time does, in fact, save energy.
- The total electricity savings of Extended Daylight Saving Time were about 1.3 Tera Watt-hour (TWh). This corresponds to 0.5 percent per each day of Extended Daylight Saving Time, or 0.03 percent of electricity consumption over the year. In reference, the total 2007 electricity consumption in the United States was 3,900 TWh.
- In terms of national primary energy consumption, the electricity savings translate to a reduction of 17 Trillion Btu (TBtu) over the spring and fall Extended Daylight Saving Time periods, or roughly 0.02 percent of total U.S. energy consumption during 2007 of 101,000 TBtu.
How much again? We’re talking two one-hundredths of a percent annual energy consumption reduced!
How will you spend this energy savings?
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com
