Daylight savings? More like energy wasting and spending!

[johnnyrocket]

Interesting take on daylight savings, and the scam that it is. It's all about inducing shopping and using up fuel:

...

"Daylight saving increased gasoline consumption, something the petroleum industry has known since 1930. ... This has been tremendously effective spending policy. Retail stores love daylight saving. Because when we have an hour of sunlight after work, Americans tend to go shopping. The first and most persistent lobby for daylight saving in this country was the Chamber of Commerce, because they understood that if their department stores were lit up, people would be tempted by them."

...

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/11/think-daylight-saving-time-saves-energy-think-again-or-not/

[Clark2008]

1. I love the extra hour, too, but not to go shopping.

I hate shopping.

I like going home and being able to eat dinner out on the deck!!

[spooky3]

15. me too--also great for gardening and tennis.

[KKKarl is an idiot]

2. I agree

A lead story this morning is higher gas prices.

---------------------------------------------
Average gasoline price rises 20 cents
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/11/news/economy/bc.energy.gasoline.retail.reut/index.htm?postversion=2007031121
---------------------------------------------

Americans do not need to spend more. We need more savings. We are sinking further & further into debt. The administration is killing our future. I propose we do aways with daylight savings altogether.

[woodsprite]

3. Nice how they've coordinated DLS with the fuel price increase. n/t

[Autonomy]

4. I'm not sure how that makes sense

If a lit up store induces shopping, having an extra hour of sunlight in the evening would seem to be counter to increasing shopping activity.

[ClassWarrior]

6. Agreed. It induces me to my patio...

NGU.

[bdamomma]

5. daylight savings time

is it for "Productivity", they can get more work out of us???

[JDPriestly]

7. Daylight savings early does not save energy.

It just means that we have lights on earlier in the a.m. instead of later in the p.m. Makes no sense. Otherwise Daylight Savings Time is great.

[ClassWarrior]

8. Who needs lights on in the a.m.? I just stumble around into things...

...anyway. B-) But seriously, I was up at my usual time today and didn't need lights.

NGU.

[notadmblnd]

11. it was dark when we got up..

my son and I were just talking last week about how nice it was that it was daylight again in the morning when we got up. I hate stumbling in the darkness, I bruise so easily.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Try getting up at 5AM. Now I get to drive to work with my headlights on.

[JDPriestly]

18. Precisely.

I get up around 6:00 a.m. It was dark this morning. We turned our lights on. It is nice to come home in the light.

[Henryman]

14. If you're awake...

Wouldn't you think most of us get up around 6, 7, or 8 am. But very few of us go to bed at 5, 6 or 7 pm.
I think it saves energy, but most importantly, it makes me feel good to have some sunlight when I leave work.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. The farther west you go the more it's just a irritation. I get up at 5AM and do retire for the night

during the work week at around 8:30PM. At the longest point, it will not get dark here unitl almost 10PM. My lights were on about the same time last night (5:15PM) as usual since it was cloudy here, but then they stayed on longer because it was stupid to go to bed at 7:30PM. This morning they had to be on about one hour longer, so I will be using more enery instead of less.

[Skink]

9. Daylight savings time should be standard time.

[Double T]

10. The ONLY way we're going to save America is to go.........

shopping; if 'we' pollute the environment more and hasten the end times due to global warming, then so be IT. At least Wal-Mart will still be here, even if their customers are NOT!

[ripple]

13. Yep, they might as well stop

promoting DLS as an energy saver- it's never saved energy.

I find it both amusing and disturbing that the candy industry has been lobbying Congress for years to get DLS extended, because they believe kids will trick-or-treat longer if they have daylight. They finally got their wish.

I really enjoy the extra hour of light, so I'm not at all opposed to DLS. I just think they should stop pretending it's something it's not. I look at it as a quality of life issue more than anything else. Plus, people probably do at least exercise more during DLS. That makes a hell of a lot more sense to me than the energy conservation angle.

[Clark2008]

20. LOL - that's funny.

Kids aren't going to trick or treat any longer if Halloween happens to be on a school night. That's ridiculous of the candy companies to think otherwise.

Sure, there will always be some irresponsible parent who lets their children stay out later, but most parents know that their little ones still have to be fed, bathed and in bed by a certain hour to get up the next morning.

[juajen]

22. In Louisiana, or at least in S. LA,

kids have two hours, period, to trick or treat. Works great, and curfew has rarely been broken, to my knowledge. The time is from 6pm to 8pm. I love it.

This gives the kids time to delve into the candy bag and still get to bed at a reasonable time. The streets are quiet and deserted after 8pm, and, of course, cops are out patrolling after that time. Porch lights are turned off and nobody answers the door, so no need for anybody to try getting extra candy.

BTW, kids like the thrill of being out when its dark. Nobody likes to trick or treat in daylight, so, that's a no brainer.

[Catchawave]

16. Fun trivia via Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_savings_time

Enjoy !

[ClassWarrior]

19. So the hope is for a net gain, but there's no conclusive evidence...

...either way.

NGU.

[HereSince1628]

17. So, who would get up to "use" the extra daylength if half of the increase

came before 6 AM?

I'm sure DLS has many commercial value$. But I've got no problem with DLS I can choose to buy or not to buy. I'm not going to blame that on a clock.

We don't live solar days like the birds do--shifting earlier and earlier wakings (on the clock) with the longer daylength as the summer solstice approaches.

We actually _already live commercial days_ with our waking timed to the opening and closing of arbitrary business hours and the time we need to prepare to report to our "shift" as indicated on a clock.

Since nature gives more daylight to deal with, do we want half of it in the morning when the majoirty of us are sleeping or would we rather shift the arbitrary clock time so that we can have that daylight in the evening when we are awake and can do something with it?

If you live in a northern latitude, at the east end of a time zone, you really notice the change in available daylength. Being a S.A.D. sufferer I rejoice in the light and have nothing against the shift in the clock that helps me soak it up when I'm awake.

[ileus]

23. Finally I don't have to sit in the house and look outside.

When it's fucking dark at 4:30 what's the use? I'd like to see it change by 2 hours, I can get ready and go to work in the dark just fine.

This morning like every morning we got up and cut the lights on, nothing changes if you have a job you have to get up early.