02.27.08
Amazing
Growing up, my mother (who had grown up in Illinois) used to tell me that Indiana didn’t change their clocks because the farmers said it would confuse the cows. I knew she wasn’t serious, but I had always loved that story.
Then, a year or two ago we got a new governor in Indiana who decided that to be part of the 21st. century we needed to move with the rest of the country - and Indiana started changing their clocks.
Having grown up outside of the state, it was quite funny watching the ‘locals’ adjust to changing their clocks twice a year.
It turns out that having such a large quantity of homes suddenly go to observing daylight saving time has finally allowed someone to study in depth what effect moving the clocks has on energy usage.
Using more than seven million monthly meter readings from Duke Energy Corp., covering nearly all the households in southern Indiana for three years, they were able to compare energy consumption before and after counties began observing daylight-saving time. Readings from counties that had already adopted daylight-saving time provided a control group that helped them to adjust for changes in weather from one year to the next.
And the result?
Their finding: Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills. They conclude that the reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight-saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings.
If you want to full story, it’s from the WSJ and I don’t know how long it will be accessible without a subscription.
Frankie said,
February 28, 2008 at 10:16 am
Wow, 8.6 million — I had always suspected that would be the case. Thanks for sharing that. I’ll have to tell my dad, who was born and raised in the land of Hoosiers.
Kim said,
February 28, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I c&p the full article at my blog. With these new findings, I wonder if they will get rid of daylight savings. I doubt it.
Ron said,
February 28, 2008 at 8:14 pm
That doesn’t surprise me. I expect that it does save energy in rural areas once you are so far north. But, built up areas are much more dependent on electricity/oil for heating and cooling.
I’m still scratching my head at the last extension of DST. Here it’s finally getting light enough in the morning that I don’t need to turn on lights while getting ready for work. In 2 weeks I’ll feel like I’m back im mid-January.
Get In, Hang On » DST - the discussion continues…. said,
March 4, 2008 at 9:15 pm
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