NationStates Jolt Archive


Changing daylight savings time?

Dakini
20-07-2005, 15:43
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1121809815664&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

To summarize the article: There's a bill moving through in the U.S. that would make daylight savings time start in March and go until October, instead of the current April to September thing in order to save energy. And basically whether Canada should match this change should it go through.

Now, I find this pointless as already, with the current daylight savings time, I wake up in the dark for a while in April. I don't even get up early, like 6:30 at the earliest... and I'm getting up in the dark. I live in Southern Ontario, not far from the border, so I'm guessing a lot of people in the northern states experience the same thing. Pushing the start of daylight savings time into March would just mean that we're all getting up in the dark longer, so I don't see the energy savings there at all. Likewise with pushing the end into October.

Also, a prof at U of T pointed out, the fact that household lighting makes up only 5% of the total residential energy costs, changing it won't make much of an impact.
Kryozerkia
20-07-2005, 15:47
It's just the US being difficult. There is no other reason to extend it.
Lacadaemon
20-07-2005, 15:47
They should abolish the whole system. It is silly, and annoying.

Just pick a time and stick with it. (We can compromise somewhere in the middle possibly, i.e. move the clocks back half an hour this autumn.)
Neutered Sputniks
20-07-2005, 15:48
Eh, it's just the US Congress thinking they rule the entire globe, not just one little section of it...but...I'm not going to get started on all that...
Dakini
20-07-2005, 15:51
They should abolish the whole system. It is silly, and annoying.

Just pick a time and stick with it. (We can compromise somewhere in the middle possibly, i.e. move the clocks back half an hour this autumn.)
Hey, then the newfies will be happy.
-Verbatim-
20-07-2005, 15:52
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1121809815664&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes
Also, a prof at U of T pointed out, the fact that household lighting makes up only 5% of the total residential energy costs, changing it won't make much of an impact.
It does say in the article that it's estimated the move will save the country $360 million (U.S.) for the extra 60 days that daylight saving time will be in effect.
New Fuglies
20-07-2005, 16:00
Hey, then the newfies will be happy.

That's because they don't know how to tell time. :p
Kryozerkia
20-07-2005, 16:02
That's because they don't know how to tell time. :p
Aren't they on a really strange schedule anyway? That should be fixed before the rest of DSt is!
Willamena
20-07-2005, 16:03
I'll go with whatever my society decides, provided they let me know when to set my clock.
Dakini
20-07-2005, 16:07
Newfoundland has their own time zone. They're half an hour ahead of atlantic time.
Niccolo Medici
20-07-2005, 16:09
"We're not just running on time, we're running on metric time!"

...So why are we screwing with the clocks again? ;)
Psuedo-Anarchists
20-07-2005, 16:10
Speaking as a resident of Indiana (one of the few US states that until recently didn't observe daylight saving time), I don't really see what the big deal with changing clocks is. Sure, it'll save half a percent or so in consumption, but that half a percent is not the problem . The problem is that most of our energy comes from non-renewable sources (oil, natural gas, etc.) and that we use way more than is necessary. Now I'm not advocating passing laws that restrict what we do (that should be up to individuals), but if we really wanted to save energy and cost, there are a bunch of much better ways. Man, I hate when I almost start ranting. :rolleyes:
Sdaeriji
20-07-2005, 16:11
I don't quite get how this will save energy. Won't we just have our lights on more in the mornings?
Miodrag
20-07-2005, 17:01
It is totally idiotic. Europe has been doing it for decades, and it is still totally idiotic.

We should just say: from 22nd April to 22nd October we start working at 8 AM instead of 9 AM and stop one hour earlier accordingly.

It is very stupid to change time. Moreover on the day the time returns to the "normal" in Autumn, there are TWO periods between 2 AM and 3 AM, because once it is 2:59 AM it becomes NOT 3 AM but 2 AM.

So how do you mark this time properly to differentiate the FIRST 2:00-2:59 Am fromt he SECOND 2:00-2:59 AM?

For astrology for those people born then it is really a problem. Also for night flights and rail/bus service taking place between 2:00 and 3:00 AM on that day (currently the last Sunday in October in Europe).
Celtlund
20-07-2005, 17:06
That's because they don't know how to tell time. :p

We do quite well at telling time now that there are digital watches. :D
Celtlund
20-07-2005, 17:14
We tried that once before, I think it was in the 1970's and it didn't work out very well at all. Biggest complaint against it was the kids going to school in the dark, made it bit more dangerous. Didn't do anything for energy savings either.
The Third-Riech
20-07-2005, 17:24
I think we shuld just do what saskatchewan does and get rid of the hole thing . doin this would screw up flightplans, the stock market, ect.witch would mean Canada would haveto cance over aswell just because its a hassel
Celtlund
20-07-2005, 17:32
I think we shuld just do what saskatchewan does and get rid of the hole thing . doin this would screw up flightplans, the stock market, ect.witch would mean Canada would haveto cance over aswell just because its a hassel

Flight plans are based on UTC. Arrivals and departures are converted into local time for the convince of the traveling public.
Markreich
20-07-2005, 17:34
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0814845.html

If clocks and other timepieces are set ahead in the spring by some amount (usually one hour), the sun will rise and set later in the day as measured by those clocks. This provides more usable hours of daylight for activities that occur in the afternoon and evening, such as outdoor recreation. Daylight saving time can also be a means of conserving electrical and other forms of energy. In the fall, as the period of daylight grows shorter, clocks are set back to correspond to standard time.

National year-round daylight saving time was adopted as a fuel-saving measure during the energy crisis of the winter of 1973–74. In late 1974, standard time was reinstituted for the winter period. In 1987 federal legislation fixed the period of daylight saving time in the United States as the first Sunday (previously the last Sunday) in April to the last Sunday in October. Arizona, Hawaii, and sections of Indiana do not use daylight saving time.

...now, I don't think they'll change it or make it longer, as it'd cost a TON to get the computers all lined up. But, in theory, it would save quite a bit in terms of energy production.

I live in Connecticut. I'm no stranger to going to work and coming home in the dark in the winter. That said, I actually have LOWER electric bills in the summer, since I'm not home during the day much (thus my A/C doesn't run) and my lights go on less....
Personal responsibilit
20-07-2005, 17:37
They should abolish the whole system. It is silly, and annoying.

Just pick a time and stick with it. (We can compromise somewhere in the middle possibly, i.e. move the clocks back half an hour this autumn.)

I agree completely. It is little more than an intentional mind game we play on ourselves. Time keeping is a strictly arbitrary practice and the sun comes up and goes down at the same times whether we call it 6 o'clock or 0600hrs or pink time or sunup or sundown. I'd think we had grown beyond such silly constructs. :p ;)
Markreich
20-07-2005, 17:38
I agree completely. It is little more than an intentional mind game we play on ourselves. Time keeping is a strictly arbitrary practice and the sun comes up and goes down at the same times whether we call it 6 o'clock or 0600hrs or pink time or sunup or sundown. I'd think we had grown beyond such silly constructs. :p ;)

Pink time? Constructs? (Have you been reading Amber??) ;)

[/sorry for hijack]
Personal responsibilit
20-07-2005, 17:49
Pink time? Constructs? (Have you been reading Amber??) ;)

[/sorry for hijack]

LMAO, clever. But, but you get the point. The "time" we call something has little or nothing to do with at what point in the earth's daily rotation we actually are. It's just a game we play with ourselves.