For most of the people in the United States, Sunday, March 9, 2008, marks Daylight Saving Time, a period when clocks are pushed forward one hour to try and lengthen the amount of daylight in any given afternoon. We then set the clocks back one hour in the fall to re-center our collective Qi.
Aside from being a complete annoyance in the spring (who wants to lose one hour of sleep?), its presence has been made even more troubling since the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Among other energy-policy pork projects, the bill altered the points in the year during which the clocks are changed — effective in the fall of 2007. Thus, this March is the first time we’re changing our clocks three weeks ahead of schedule.
Many consumer electronics with on-board clock microchips that are supposed to auto-detect the DST change (VCRs, DVD players, etc.) were “confused” in the fall when we changed the clocks a week later than usual, and likely will be confused again tomorrow morning. Unless those electronics were manufactured after the law was passed, or they are actively connected to some internet- or radio-based time server, they will keep humming along one hour off until the date they originally would have changed; April 1, in this case. Our electronics were trying to be smart, but we found a way to fool them!
But the reason for this post was not a rant on technology, but one on economics. Using the state of Indiana and its 6 million inhabitants as a proxy, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have started to analyze the economic impact of the change in our DST schedule. Preliminary conclusions find out that it may be costing us more for this additional month of daylight adjustment, rather than the hoped-for net reduction in energy usage and health costs.
How much, you ask?
Something to the tune of $8.6 million per year in higher energy bills, plus up to $5.3 million per year in “increased pollution costs.” Extrapolating that across the entire U.S. would certainly add up quickly. Professor Matthew Kotchen’s publication gives the details, and it’s well worth the read.
That was a good read, thanks dude.