Daylight Saving Time - An Energy Issue

Beginning this year, there will be a change in our Daylight Saving Time (DST) pattern. Instead of “springing” the clock ahead one hour in April and “falling” back one hour in October, we will be turning our clocks ahead in March and back in November.

Benjamin Franklin first suggested the idea of DST, but it wasn’t given a try until 1918 in order to conserve resources for the war effort. Since this time, DST has been modified numerous times. Starting in 2007, DST will begin three weeks earlier than previous years and extended by one week, as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

One of the biggest reasons clocks are changed to DST is to save energy. Energy use and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes are directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up. In the average home, 25 percent of all the electricity we use is for lighting and small appliances such as TVs, VCRs, and stereos. Bedtime for most of us is late evening through the year and when we go to bed, we turn off the lights and TV. A good percentage of energy consumed by lighting and appliances occurs in the evening when families are home. By moving the clock ahead one hour, we can cut the amount of electricity we consume each day.