DST: Doubtful Standards Time

This is a picture I took from the cab on June Street two years ago.

It was taken on March 11, 2008 at 7:32am.

As you can see, all the cars still had their headlights on. It was the Tuesday after Daylight Savings Time went into effect that year.

Tonight at 2 am, Daylight Savings Time officially goes into effect for this year.

I hate Daylight Savings Time.

Until 1986, DST began on the last Sunday in April and ended on the last Sunday in October. In 1987, for reasons we can only guess at, they changed it to the first Sunday in April. Then again in 2007, for no other reason besides some peculiar belief system that has as one of its firmly held dogmas this completely unproven idea that Daylight Savings Time not only saves time, it also saves energy... they changed it again to the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.

Saving time is just a marketing gimmick phrase. It's as absurd as "saving money" by purchasing something you never would've purchased if it hadn't been on sale...

Saving energy in a universe made out of energy is even more of an absurd concept.

There is only one crypto-didactic purpose to Daylight Savings Time... It merely forces all employees to come to work an hour earlier every day for nine months out of the year.

Lest anyone think of arguing the "saving energy" baloney with me, let me cite a statistical analysis of energy usage before and after the implementation of Daylight Savings Time (pdf).

It's the only truly objective study ever done on the energy saving effect of Daylight Savings Time.

In the abstract at the beginning of that study, they say, "Our main finding is that—contrary to the policy's intent—DST increases residential electricity demand."

The abstract concludes, "We estimate a cost of increased electricity bills to Indiana households of $9 million per year. We also estimate social costs of increased pollution emissions that range from $1.7 to $5.5 million per year. Finally, we argue that the effect is likely to be even stronger in other regions of the United States."

That report was issued in October of 2008. Prior to that, there was nothing. No studies have ever been done to prove that DST as it was, or as it was proposed to change in 1987 or in 2007, ever "saved" any energy.

And that's why I don't like Daylight Savings Time... Twice a year I have to be reminded that the entire population is required to obey this dictate, expected to swallow the lie that doing so will "save energy", and end up making the exact opposite happen.