Even if you hate daylight saving time, you tell yourself: Hey, I shouldn’t be so selfish, it’s good for the economy, or for the environment, or for farmers, or something. Right?
Photo: macinateWell, um, perhaps not. Consider a new working paper, “Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Indiana,” by Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant:
The history of daylight saving time (D.S.T.) has been long and controversial. Throughout its implementation during World Wars I and II, the oil embargo of the 1970′s, consistent practice today, and recent extensions, the primary rationale for D.S.T. has always been to promote energy conservation.
Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence that D.S.T. actually saves energy. This paper takes advantage of a natural experiment in the state of Indiana to provide the first empirical estimates of D.S.T. effects on electricity consumption in the United States since the mid-1970′s.
Focusing on residential electricity demand, we conduct the first-ever study that uses micro-data on households to estimate an overall D.S.T. effect. The dataset consists of more than 7 million observations on monthly billing data for the vast majority of households in southern Indiana for three years.
Our main finding is that — contrary to the policy’s intent — D.S.T. increases residential electricity demand.
Estimates of the overall increase are approximately 1 percent, but we find that the effect is not constant throughout the D.S.T. period. D.S.T. causes the greatest increase in electricity consumption in the fall, when estimates range between 2 and 4 percent.
These findings are consistent with simulation results that point to a tradeoff between reducing demand for lighting and increasing demand for heating and cooling. We estimate a cost of increased electricity bills to Indiana households of $9 million per year. We also estimate social costs of increased pollution emissions that range from $1.7 to $5.5 million per year. Finally, we argue that the effect is likely to be even stronger in other regions of the United States.
On the bright side, if President-elect Obama is looking for some quick hits on energy conservation, here’s one that’s all teed up and ready to go: Kill D.S.T.!
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I grew up in Saskatchewan, where there is no DST. I moved to BC when I was 16, and I received my first taste of it. My first conversation went something like this.
Friend: Don’t forget to change your clock back an hour.
Me: Why?
Friend: Because we moved it forward an hour in the spring.
Me: Uh . . .
I agree with #3 very much. I think DST hits my children the worst. Also, since I rise at 0430 each day and go to bed somewhere between 1930 and 2100, it affects me the same way.
I had previously lived in a state with no DST. Summer was the most wonderful time of year.
Worst still, in the last few years, our state government has been in the habit of extending DST.(I live in New South Wales, Australia). This introduces a great many other issues I won’t get into.
Let’s just say, it’s a facet I’ll look forward to when I eventually move back to Queensland.
@ Grant
DST is what PREVENTS the situation you find depressing. When DST ends, it get dark earlier.
The fact is that this is one study, and a study without a control. Find a place (like Arizona) that doesn’t observe DST, and then do the study comparing its energy use to a neighboring state over the course of an entire year. This would be far more useful.
I confuse myself on this issue.
Here’s what I want: I want it lighter later.
I think that means I was DST year around?
It doesn’t compute that having the same amount of daylight – just that the clocks are different – would make any kind of energy consumption difference.
Tourism/Recreation certainly is higher when it’s lighter later. That’s a good thing. So if energy consumption goes up because more people are doing more things, this is good.
Lighter later.
I think we should get rid of DST, but shift to the summer hours (the actual DST). I like the lighter evenings. As it is now, I go home from work in the dark. I much prefer going home in the light.
I think if you’re looking for “some quick hits on energy conservation,” CAFE standards and increasing energy efficiency standards would yield 20-30% increases in efficiency.
Plus, there are all kinds of consequences to ending DST that would be disruptive, especially things like software that auto-resets clocks for DST. And there are studies that estimate how many less deaths there are when kids come and go from school when it’s dark.
So … do you then adjust school times so you’re not endangering elementary school kids? And so on.
Split it 30 minutes and leave it alone
What was the theory about DST? Why did anyone think it was going to save energy?