The Debate Over Daylight Saving Time: Is It Worth It?
It’s that time of year again. You wake up and see that the clock in your kitchen reads 8 am, even though you swear the alarm was set for 7. You’re convinced you’re late for work.
But wait, ugh.
You didn’t fall asleep. It’s summer time.
Twice a year, everyone’s clocks move forward or back one hour. But what’s the point? And will the changes in schedules end in the United States?
There is an old myth that daylight saving time was a practice adopted to give farmers more sunlight time to work in the fields. But that’s not really the reason dozens of countries adopted it.
Daylight saving time (DST) is a system to reduce electricity use by taking advantage of daylight hours. For eight months of the year, the US and dozens of other countries follow daylight saving time, and for the remaining four months, they revert to standard time to make the most of sunlight.
On the second Sunday in March at 2 a.m. the clocks go forward one hour. Then, on the first Sunday in November at 2 a.m., the clocks are turned back one hour. A good way to remember it? Time changes coincide with the seasons: clocks “advance” one hour in March and “back” in November.
In the summer months, the sun rises for longer periods of time, so you can rely on daylight to avoid turning on the lights. Clocks return to standard time during the winter months so that the sun can rise earlier and the world starts the day with sunlight; Otherwise, some places wouldn’t see the sun rise until almost 8:30 a.m.
The current March-November system that the United States follows began in 2007, but the concept of “saving electricity” is much older. It is debated who originally came up with the idea, but Benjamin Franklin appears to have first mentioned it in 1784, when he wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris.
However, daylight saving time was not widely used until more than a century later. Several countries, including Great Britain and Germany, implemented daylight saving time during World War I. The practice was intended to reduce the use of artificial lighting so that troops could conserve fuel for war. But the United States did not standardize the system until 1966, when it passed the Unified Time Act.
For years, the United States observed daylight saving time from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. In 2005, President George W. Bush extended daylight saving time by four more weeks, and it officially went into effect in 2007.
But not everyone has chosen to follow daylight saving time. Only 70 countries around the world “extend daylight” each year. In the US, states are not required by law to follow daylight saving time; Hawaii and most of Arizona don’t respect it. Other states, such as Florida and California, are working to adopt daylight saving time year-round (rather than just between March and November).
There is an initiative in Congress to make daylight saving time permanent. The Sun Protection Law was approved by the Senate on March 15, 2022 by unanimous consent. The bill would still need to be approved by the House and signed by President Joe Biden to become law. If approved, the change will not take effect until November 2023.
Supporters of the measure say it would put an end to disruption caused by time changes.
Does daylight saving time really work?
Well… that’s up for debate.
While the practice may help reduce some energy consumption, critics have raised concerns about whether the amount of energy saved is worth the trouble of deploying the system worldwide.
In 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy found that extending daylight saving time for four weeks, from April to October to March and November, saved about 0.5 percent of total electricity each day. While that sounds like almost nothing, it totals 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours and the department says that’s equivalent to “the amount of electricity used by more than 100,000 homes for an entire year.”
But a study that same year by the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that daylight saving time increases demand for electricity; Although lighting use is reduced, heating and cooling demand increases, so electricity consumption is approximately the same.
Other studies have found that the benefits of daylight saving time may be location-specific. One found electricity reductions in Norway and Sweden, while another noted an increase in electricity demand in Indiana.
Whether or not “saving daylight” is the most energy-efficient method is still up for debate. But for now, if you live in any of the countries that follow daylight saving time, remember to turn your clocks back before going to bed on Sunday night. Otherwise, you’ll wake up thinking you’re late for work.