Monday, March 3, 2008

Is Daylight Savings Time Worth Anything?

We have never been real "high" on daylight savings time (DST). Now, a study has been done that indicates that it's a money waster and not a money saver.

If the morning is rather cool when you get up, do you "jack up" the heat? When you get home after work and the house is very warm, do you turn up the A/C? The new study says that you do. And, with daylight savings time, by the fact there is more light in the PM and you are rising "earlier" in the AM, your brain says "DO IT".

When we were kids (for us, that was a long time ago), DST was for the benefit of farmers. Then, as big business took over farming, the reasoning for DST was changed to "benefiting kids and families". Why? Summer school vacations are only 3 months long. So what happens the other 5 months of DST? Homework still has to be done. And, kids are not taught to appreciate being outdoors anymore. TV and computers have taken over keeping them indoors. Also, many people work longer hours now.

Bottom line, this is another "dog and pony show" instituted by Congress to "make you feel good". We have little regard for this. Nothing Congress does these days is with good reasoning. Most is done with "see what we have done for you" while taking away a little more control of your life.

If you really want to save money on energy costs and save your environment, you must restrain yourself from adjusting your house temperatures. You might also inform your congressman that they need to use common sense and to stop intervening in the natural process. Yes, this is hard to do, but what will your kids do in 30 years when oil is depleted and the coast line is vastly changed by rising seas? The ball is in your court.