Goal For The Green

It’s that TIME again. Tomorrow, ( Sunday at 2 a.m. local time), most U.S. residents, will turn back their clocks, (fall back) an hour, marking the conclusion of daylight saving time. Yeah, we get an extra hour of sleep, again.

Really, is that truth or fiction?  How did we get caught up, on this ritual in the first place?

We tend to welcome the Fall transition, given that we gain that one heavenly hour, of extra sleep. But, the hassle of resetting our clocks, (and we, at my house, are the house of clocks), often leaves people wondering, why we practice the meaningless ritual in the first place.?

Some of the reasons are obvious, like optimizing on any added daylight.  Examples are: extra daylight for retailers, and sporting events that benefit from taking place, during those precious daylight hours.  Other examples are more obscure, like safety for children, and lower crime rates.  Even, the argument that it saves ENERGY, has recently been called into question, as studies have proven that is not necessarily the case.

The concept of shifting clocks, for optimal daylight and energy benefits, has been around since ancient civilizations, when many societies adopted flexible, time telling systems, dictated by the sun. The Romans, had a specific water clock, for each month of the year, dividing daylight into twelve hours, regardless of the length of daylight hours.

Variable time schedules, were eventually replaced by fixed civic time, and shifting clocks, based on hours of daylight continued.  We can thank, Ben Franklin,  for publishing an anonymous letter satirizing,  the economic benefits of waking early.

Modern daylight saving time, wasn’t proposed until the late 1800’s.  New Zealand, entomologist , spent his spare time, after work collecting insects, an activity limited by daylight.  In an effort to extend, his extracurricular activities, he presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society, proposing a two-hour daylight-saving shift. It was Hudson’s paper, that provided the foundation, for modern daylight saving time, as we now know it.

The concept wasn’t internationally embraced until the World Wars, when Germany, and its allies, first employed the time shift, as a way to conserve coal. Many other countries, eventually followed suit, including the U.S.

After the war, the U.S. was free, to choose whether to observe daylight saving time, along with the start and end dates, for the time change.  Lack of uniformity, created confusion among newscasters and travelers.  So, Congress responded in 1966, with the Uniform Time Act, setting uniform protocol for daylight saving time.

Despite the history, daylight saving time still isn’t universally accepted, with some states opting out, and others debating its usefulness.  Skeptics  were given, the perfect opportunity to see if the practice actually saved energy.

After Indiana instituted daylight saving statewide, for the first time in 2007, A University of California Santa Barbara economist and his colleagues, observed a 1 percent rise in residential electricity use, costing the state an extra $9 million.

Arizona hasn’t observed daylight saving time since 1967, as a way to conserve energy, due to air conditioning needs in the desert. However, Hawaii has never implemented the time shift, simply because its tropical latitude, results in relatively consistent daylight hours year-round. Perhaps, that is the same reason that, none of the U.S. territories observe daylight saving time, including the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the length of daylight saving time, was extended by four weeks starting in 2007.  The change, is only observed,  for four months.  We spring forward, the second Sunday, in March, 2011. For the majority of us, daylight savings time wraps up early at (2 A.M.) this, Sunday morning.  So, Don’t forget, to adjust that clock! Like it or NOT!!

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