This ought to raise a few eyebrows.
Daylight saving time was supposed to save us energy (about 10,000 barrels of oil a day nationwide, if I recall the Department of Transportation study correctly). That was one of the two main arguments used by Gov. Mitch Daniels when he managed to push DST through the General Assembly, the other being that we looked like backaward hicks for not adopting something every other mainland state except Arizona had implemented. But a new study suggests those savings aren't there. For the study, researchers used the 15 Indiana counties that had always observed DST as a control group, comparing them to counties that adopted DST in 2006:
The result of the study showed that electricity use went up in the counties adopting daylight saving time in 2006, costing $8.6 million more in household electricity bills. The conclusion reached by Kotchen and Grant was that while the lighting costs were reduced in the afternoons by daylight saving, the greater heating costs in the mornings, and more use of air-conditioners on hot afternoons more than offset these savings. Kotchen said the results were more “clear and unambiguous” than results in any other paper he had presented.
The authors say studies showing energy savings were conducted in the 1970s, before air conditioning became such a ubiquitous part of our lives.
Daniels got his gubernatorial reputation as a tough and savvy politician in large part because he was able to succeed on DST where so many others had failed over the years. Wonder how this will affect that reputation? One thing he could still say in defense of the change is that at least we're in step with everyone else. There is undoubtedly some savings in the avoidance of missed meetings and confusion because of being different from everyone else, although it isn't quantifiable.
I hate to even bring this up and get everyone exercised all over again, but whether or not we stay on DST affects the time zone debate as well, doesn't it?
Comments
I really thought the big push for DST was that Indiana time confused everyone. But I think we have made it worse- because our state has more than one time zone.
How is that any less confusing?
Since we're all on DST, we always have the same time difference with other states, regardless of the time of year -- we change our clocks when everybody else does. What was more confusing before was that outsiders had to figure which county we lived in, whether it was a DST county or not and where we were relative to them depending on the time of year.
I remember when it was being sold as a jobs bill. I credit our economic hot streak to implementation of DST.
For me personally, I have two reasons not to like DST:
1. Just about now when I'm starting to enjoy early morning sunlight, it gets taken away; and
2. I have to deal with putting little kids to bed at night. It gets a lot tougher just about now.
I think one of Daniels' lines was that DST would be "low-effort economic development" or something like that.
Leo- "What was more confusing before was that outsiders had to figure which county we lived in, whether it was a DST county or not and where we were relative to them depending on the time of year."
But this is still pretty much the case:
What is stillconfusing is that outsiders have to figure which county we lived in, whether it is on EST or CST and where we were relative to them depending on the time of year.