Does Daylight Saving Time Have Any Effect on Energy Consumption?

Living on a farm and producing grapes and vegetables for many years, I used to dread the thought of the switch to daylight saving time. Since our harvest commenced early February in the hottest part of our year, having the ability to start picking fruit at the earliest hour possible meant a more productive day for us all. The extra one hour we needed to wait for daylight to arrive also meant we were already experiencing an extra 15 to 20 degrees. With the mid afternoon temperatures peaking at an unpleasant 125 degrees, the need to start work as early as possible was paramount. Even worse, we also worked for a friend on his dairy farm occasionally. Being creatures of extreme habit, it was not an easy task trying to convince 450 cows to make such changes to accommodate our schedule. The cows would refuse to enter the dairy, and if we did manage to get them into their stalls and hooked up to the milking apparatus, they would not allow their milk to 'let go'.

So, if you dislike daylight saving as much as I do, take a closer look at some of the disruption it can cause to our health .

Almost 50 million Americans are said to suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and the winter blues. With daylight saving in place, the sun rises one hour later for a longer part of the year, thus increasing the amount of suffering from such disorders. SAD is said to have symptoms such as depression and anxiety, fatigue, insomnia and can even enhance an otherwise dormant need for sugars and extra carbohydrates.

In contrast, the additional vitamin D from this extra sunlight can be beneficial to the absorption rate of calcium into our bodies, help to reduce bone loss and improve our overall dental health. When making the decision to deliberately confuse our circadian rhythms, keep in mind that there were some underlying good intentions. It was said that extending daylight savings would be instrumental in lowering energy consumption. A study conducted in the 1970's showed that energy usage was down a whole 1% for every day of the daylight savings period.

The Department of Transportation reported savings in oil consumption, while it was also said that crime rates were lowered as a direct result of DST. Whilst most of these findings are aged data, it is evident that a positive impact can be had on our environment. This may be little comfort to those with seasonal affective disorder, but since daylight savings time was first referenced way back in the 1700's, and further written about by Benjamin Franklin, it would appear that policy on this subject is not going to change in the reverse anytime soon.

Sources:

http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/boundaries/a_savingtime.html#two

http://www.livescience.com/environment/070307_daylight_savings.html