Daylight Saving Time: What A Waste of Time...And Money...And...

Given my past admitted sarcasm- and frustration-laden coverage of the altered Daylight Saving Time schedule that went into effect last year, specifically the hassle of updating devices to reflect the changes (for devices that could be updated at all, that is), you had to know that a recent news writeup would catch my eye. According to a Wall Street Journal report, a study conducted by a U.C. Santa Barbara professor and one of his Ph.D. students concluded that DST actually wastes both energy and money compared to the year-round consistent-clock alternative. The project focused on my home state, Indiana, which until April of 2006 didn’t follow DST conventions in 77 of the state’s 92 counties (including mine, St. Joseph…I was born in Mishawaka and grew up both there and in Osceola).

Granted, folks might burn lights less on an average basis with seasonal DST shifts, but the in-progress transition from incandescent to fluorescent and LED illumination will substantially mute any positive impact of this move. Conversely, DST-shifting Hoosiers now consume more energy via heat (cold mornings) and air conditioning (hot afternoons) than they used to…translating to a net sum loss of $8.6 million. Granted, the 7-million-datapoint study focused only Southern Indiana residents served by Duke Energy Corporation and encompassed only three years’ worth of numbers, so its long-term statistical supportability is unclear, particularly in an era of apparent-to-most global warming. Nonetheless, I love the following ‘money quote’, from Professor Matthew Kotchen:

I’ve never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this.

Smooth move, pols.