[BC] DST for the rest of you

[Donald Chester]

> From: Douglas Pritchett <radiofool at gmail.com>

> The one month added to DST was the result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was passed by the Congress>> and Senate. It was not done by executive order by the President, although he did sign the law.

A more accurate name for DST would be Daylight Shifting time. It doesn't "save" a nanosecond of daylight.

It has been gradually (stealthily?) extended in length ever since standard time was reinstated in the 70s following the year-round fiasco. One of the long-time advocates of keeping it year-round is Edward Markey, a congressman from Massachusetts. The recent extension was sponsored by him and another congressman from Michigan... non-partisan; Markey is a Democrat and the one from MI (forget his name) is a Republican. Markey is one of those who pushed for the previous extensions as well.

I recall in the early 80s it began about the third week in April. Later on, in the 1990s, while I was working at a teaching job I noticed it began around the 1st of April. (Maybe the April 1st date would be appropriate.) Now, it begins in early March... while it's still Winter, for God's sake.

Another fine piece of work by our useless congress, to make it look like they were "doing" something (this was before they had Obamacare, sequester, government shut-down, etc. to keep them in the news). It was supposed to save energy. DST might save a little energy in mid-summer when the sun comes up at 4:30 in the morning. But in March, people are simply turning on the lights and turning up the heat an hour earlier in the morning, instead of keeping them on an hour later in the evening. This might even result in more energy usage, since the coldest part of the day usually occurs at the hour right before sunrise. But now that most people have a/c, it might not even save any energy in the evening during the summer. With DST, people get off from work an hour earlier, come home and turn on the a/c during the hottest part of the day, 2-3 hours before sunset.

The most recent extension was supposed to be on a trial basis; if it didn't result in energy savings, it was to revert back to the previous starting date. Studies since then have shown that indeed there was no significant energy saving with the earlier starting date. But DST has not returned to the previous dates. One more cheer for congress!

Maybe DST should be re-named Daylight Shopping Time. One of the lobbying forces for the extended dates was the retail sales industry. People are more likely to stop off from work or leave home for the shopping mall when it is still daylight outside, than when it is dark.

It takes me about two days to re-acclimate back to standard time in autumn. The spring shift used to take me a couple of months, and I never completely acclimated to re-setting the clock and pretending it is an hour earlier that it really is. It doesn't bother me so much now that I have retired from the teaching job and only do a little occasional radio consulting work on my own schedule, and don't pay much attention to the clock. Just about the time it would be getting daylight when I had to get up in the morning, the time shift would send me back to fumbling and stumbling in the dark in the morning struggling to get out of the house and make it to work on time.

Countries throughout the world that observe summer time tend to observe their own starting and ending dates. This must indeed be confusing for international airlines, railways and telecommunications. If they are going to continue this nonsense, the nations of each hemisphere should at least agree on single, universal starting and ending dates. I wouldn't find it too objectionable if it ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day in the US, when the days are really long. A year or two ago, Russia was talking about abolishing their time change altogether. I don't know if they went through with it or not.

Don