Daylight Savings Time switch?

Question

Who thinks are time switches are stupid?
I mean when it gets dark don't you turn on a light and when it's
light out don't you turn off the lamp?
How is this going to save energy or is this for the big companies that leave lights on all night and all over their offices?
Are we really so bad as not to use common sense that our goverment has to tell us how and when to set our clocks? What's next how to wipe our a**'s?
Sorry for ranting just fed up with stupidity!

Answer 1

You are wrong. There is a very good reason why DST saves energy. I'll try to be as concise as possible.

Most working people in North America go to bed at around 10 p.m and wake up around 6 a.m. Agreed? Some might sleep from 11 to 7 too.
During the summer (May, June and July), at an average midlatitude location, sunrise is typically at 4:30 am standard time and sunset is at 7:30 pm. This is a 15 hour day, corresponding to Iowa or Colorado and much of the Eastern Seaboard. It can be 16-18 hours long in Canada and over 20 hours in Alaska. It's about 14 hours in the southern U.S.

DST delays the clocks by an hour. Now, sunrise is at 5:30 am and sunset is at 8:30 pm. You've lengthened the duration of daylight in the evening and shortened it in the morning. But you're ASLEEP in the morning! It makes no difference if the sun rises at 4:30 or 5:30. Whereas you've now delayed switching on the lights by an entire hour in the evening. You've 'transferred' an hour of daylight from morning to evening. This saves energy.
The only people who don't like DST are those who rise before sunrise. Most people do not rise at 5:30 am.

People who 'rant' on this topic need to remember that it was Dr. Benjamin Franklin who suggested this. There is a good reason why scientists agree that DST saves energy, and I have explained it as quickly as possible.

DST does not work in winter, because the sun rises too late, and then you would have to turn on the lights in the morning. That cancels out the 'extra' hour of daylight you get in the evening.

For the same reason, DST does not work in the tropics because their summer days are too short.

It is all about society. If people rose with the sun and went to bed with the sun, DST would be pointless. But most people rise after sunrise and go to bed after sunset and this is why DST is such a simple energy-saving measure in the summer. It's really quite simple if you think about it.

Answer 2

Yes, it is stupid, There is no way they can think that day light savings is saving energy. Your right about people turning on lights when it is dark and off when it is light out. The difference is that if people sleep late in the morning then they will not be up when it is dark out early and therefore not turn on any lights. I can't imagine how that little idea can make so much of a difference that they would cause a time change twice a year for everybody but Arizona. Why don't the other 49 states take a stand and decide not to make the change.

The other side of this change is for the farmers, so that they have day light earlier for working out in the fields. Again, what does that matter. There is only so much daylight in a day, what does it matter of if it goes from 6:00 in the morning or 7:00 in the morning.

Ok, now I am finished ranting....

Answer 3

I remember in the 80's that we had a year without Daylight Savings time. I worked from 7:30a.m. and got off at 4:30 p.m. On payday, I got my little girl at the babysitters, after I went to the bank, so I could pay the babysitter, then went shopping,(I got paid every two weeks). By the time we got out of the car shopping, it was dark. I felt worried and alarmed, and I thought I worked all day long. I really worked the same time. I live in Kansas, not Alaska. I do like Daylight Savings time, except when I forget to set the clock, and people look at me funny.

Answer 4

bovinotarian gave a good answer. sorry i hate it when people go ranting over things they know nothing about. if dst was really useless, why are so many countries using it? no government would do it if it was useless. every government wants to save money and do you know how much that one hour of electric power costs, added up over every day of the summer, over every household in the country? A LOT

but i agree with you that the big offices and stuff should turn off their damn lights at night! it totally undoes all the energy saved by the home owners.

Answer 5

It must have something to do with power consumption. The days are getting longer by almost 4 minutes/day, but shifting the clock ahead would get us up earlier and home earlier. I think it fried, no matter how you look at it. I wish they could just leave the time in standard format. Just my gut feelings on it. People perceive the day being an hour longer, but in reality, its just later on in the day.

Answer 6

There's no real "practical" reason for most of us to be switching our clocks back and forth (except that most of us work 9-to-5 jobs which require us to synchronize our schedules with everyone else around us)

It's a silly hassle and doesn't really accomplish anything, in my opinion.

Answer 7

I'd rather stay on DST year-round.