Why do we have Daylight Saving Time?

The study concluded that the move away from Standard Time to DST costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills.

It turns out that, while we may use less indoor lighting when we have longer afternoon daylight hours, we offset any savings with increased air-conditioning and heating costs on hot afternoons and cool mornings. The study also estimated that the social costs of increased pollution emissions ranged from $1.6 to $5.3 million per year. "I've never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this," said Matthew Kotchen, one of the paper’s authors, when he presented his findings at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference.


Clarifies Nese, "The original 'energy saving’ argument for DST was that when there’s less time between sunset and bedtime, we’ll use less electricity in the evening. But Daylight Saving Time tends to push people outside in the evening, perhaps to take in a ballgame or grab some ice cream. And they typically drive to these activities. So there may be energy saving at home where the lights are off, but gasoline consumption goes up."

Read more


Original content Bob DeMarco, Look Beyond the Obvious