Mar-11-2007 US time switch set to save energy(topic overview)CONTENTS:
REFERENCES  To start with, be sure to move your clocks forward by one hour Saturday night. Daylight saving time arrives three weeks early this year. This is due to the new Energy Policy Act, a law passed by Congress two years ago that sought to address our critical energy needs. Really? Changing the day we start daylight savings time is a significant way to solve our energy crunch? Leave it to Congress to be on top of really important solutions to national problems. [1] The sharp minds on Capitol Hill created a bill called the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and that was signed into law and now that brilliant piece of legislation has changed the dates for Daylight Savings Time to start and end. That means one more month of DST. The hope is that the extra hour of daylight in the evening will help us all save money with energy consumption and make us 'happy'.[2] In an effort to save energy, the United States will make its annual move to Daylight Saving Time on Sunday-three weeks earlier than usual-to make use of longer hours of natural light.[3] TORONTO -- The jury is still out on whether extending daylight savings this year will translate into energy savings -- the stated goal behind the move -- but there's no doubt that some industries expect to cash in on the clock change. Among the sectors that stand to gain the most when the time changes as of tomorrow morning, providing an extra three weeks of sunshine this spring is the some sports and recreation industries.[4] Morning Edition, March 9, 2007 The annual ritual of resetting our clocks to spring forward one hour usually starts on the first Sunday in April. This year, daylight-saving time starts three weeks early. It's a change that could affect everything from computer systems to golf courses. "The bottom line is that it's going to save energy," says Fred Upton, a Republican congressman from Michigan who pushed the change.[5] Members of Congress approved the change in 2005, saying it would cut fuel consumption. They decided to add a month of daylight-saving time by springing the start date ahead three weeks and making the ending date fall back a week. Beginning this year, daylight-saving time runs from the second weekend in March to the first weekend in November.[6] Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 adding the extra weeks of daylight-saving time in an effort to reduce household energy use.[7] Prerau helped write a study for the U.S. Department of Transportation in the 1970s that examined the extension of daylight-saving time during the energy crisis. It found that the decision by Congress reduced electricity use.[8] In 1975, the U.S. Department of Transportation concluded that daylight-saving time might save 1 percent in electricity costs, or about 100,000 barrels of oil for every additional day. When a Transportation Department official testified before a congressional panel in 2001, she cautioned lawmakers that many of the benefits already had been achieved in 1986 after Congress changed the starting date from the last Sunday in April to the first.[9]  Johnson signed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which replaced a patchwork quilt of state daylight-saving rules with a system that set the dates for all states and U.S. territories. The law, however, provided waivers for states that maintain laws opting out of daylight saving for all or parts of their territory. [10] "What happened in Australia intuitively fits with what will likely happen here," said Kellogg, also a graduate student researcher at the UC Energy Institute. With the United States and other nations dependent on foreign oil emphasizing "oil above all else" in terms of energy policy, Wolff said, he and Kellogg suggested including gasoline consumption data in future analyses of the energy implications of extending Daylight Saving Time.[11] Extend the number of daylight hours, and people do more outside the home. That usually means they get in the car and burn up more oil, using just as much energy in the long run than if darkness fell earlier in the day, said Downing, a Tufts University lecturer whose book "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time" was published in 2005. "It has always been a beloved target for baseball and the golf and retail industries," he said.[8] Consumption shifted to the morning - when there was an hour more of darkness - canceling out the savings. Kellogg conceded in a phone interview, the public might prefer a longer daylight saving time if it is better suited to their lifestyle. "I think the discussion should focus on what people want, not about saving energy," he said.[12] "No one until now knew how imperfect it was to rely on older work." Both Wolff and Kellogg acknowledged that even without energy savings, Daylight Saving Time will have its boosters among those who enjoy evening outings in the sunshine and detractors among early morning joggers and others who dislike extended morning darkness. "In the public mind, more important than any energy issue is, 'How is this going to affect my life?'" noted Kellogg.[11] They said the move would save 279bn cubic feet of natural gas and save $4.4bn in energy bills by 2020. "The change in the beginning of daylight saving time is just one step towards making our country more efficient in its usage of energy and conscious of our environment," Markey said Wednesday.[13] At Duke Energy, one of the largest power producers in the U.S., the annual switch to daylight saving time has always involved having staff on site to make sure everything goes smoothly, according to company spokesman Tom Shiel. â''We've simulated the time change to test our systems, and everything checked out,â'' he said, adding that very little expense was involved.[14] The two economists said Congress relied too heavily on flawed studies about reduced energy use in the 1970s that coincided with an extension of daylight saving time after the Arab oil embargo.[12] Energy use dropped, Kellogg said, but it was because of high oil prices and a recession, not the longer daylight saving time. Since the 1970s, increased use and sales of air conditioners and other appliances has made it harder to cut electric use on hot afternoons, he added.[12] During the 1970s energy crisis, and again in 1986, the prospect of fuel savings won expansions of daylight time. This time, Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, teamed up with Republican Fred Upton of Michigan to get daylight time started yet another few weeks earlier, again with the expectation that the move would save oil.[15] At 2 am on Sunday, the United States will "spring forward" one hour to daylight saving time, three weeks earlier than usual, and will stay on that schedule until November 4, a week longer.[16] The timing of sunsets and sunrises will be changed by one hour from last year for a few weeks this spring and fall because of a change in Daylight Saving Time, but local officials don't expect any major adjustments to be necessary.[17] "Ultimately, daylight saving just brings a smile to everybody's faces." Critics of the measure say the early switch may potentially lead to computer failures and cause minor headaches such as electronic calendars being out of synch, leading to missed appointments. Canada also advances its clocks this weekend, with all provinces moving forward an hour, except Saskatchewan which does not observe Daylight Saving Time.[18] At daylight saving, 2 a.m. is now 3 a.m. In that sense it raises our consciousness twice a year," Thompson said. Most people are probably like Norton Nichols, 84, of the Webster neighborhood in San Diego, who sets his clocks on Saturday night and has never missed an appointment because of the time change. He has a reminder in his calendar and hasn't given the matter much thought. "I don't know if it really makes a difference to me," he said.[19] America isn't likely to save electricity from the extended daylight saving time that starts Sunday, contrary to Congress' reasons for ordering the change, two UC Berkeley economists conclude in a study.[12] "During the transportation study we found that Daylight Saving Time reduces electrical energy uses; it reduces traffic accidents and fatalities; it reduces outdoor crimes; and it gives a lifestyle that benefits most people," said Prerau.[20] "While looking into DST -- how it affected energy, motor vehicle accidents, crime and other things -- I became curious of the history of Daylight Saving Time.[20] Rep. Ed Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who pushed to expand daylight saving time as part of a broader measure passed by Congress in 2005 encouraging new energy technologies, sees nothing but sunshine in the idea.[21] Not only does the extra hour of sunshine put a smile on folks' faces, as Rep. Edward Markey, Congress's Mr. Daylight Time, likes to say, but the additional light is credited with saving energy, cutting crime and making roads safer.[15] The annual arrival of daylight-saving time means most of us have an extra hour after work or school to enjoy sunny, warm weather. The added daylight gives people more energy, makes them less grumpy and decreases their fatigue, psychiatrists say.[9] Farmers had long been the most vocal opponents to daylight-saving time because morning daylight was better for many agricultural activities than an extra hour in the evening.[9] If she had her way, Vicki Peterson of Great Falls would like an extra hour of sunlight in the mornings when daylight-saving time begins Sunday. It's now just getting light when she gets up, she said.[9] I wonder if those who enacted the change considered that one hour earlier in the morning is dark & one extra hour of energy we will be consuming for 3 weeks? They probably didn't realize that the law "creating daylight" into the 1st week of November does not create any extra daylight at all because the days are shorter so there is no light to extend.[9] If the elephant decides to roll out of bed an hour early, the mouse better roll, too, lest it get pancaked. All across Canada, except for most of Saskatchewan and those parts of B.C. where people marry their cousins, Daylight Saving it is, from today until the first Sunday in November, a week later than usual. All this is being done in the name of saving energy. That's nonsense. I woke up this morning and could barely get out of bed.[22] Daylight saving time now extends from tomorrow to the first Sunday in November. That extra week in November has one other industry pretty excited, according to Mr. Downing. "For 25 years, since they 1986 law, candy makers have been pushing for that week," he said.[4] Tonight, the sun will set at 7:11; last night, at 6:10. This shift, moving to lighter evenings three weeks earlier than in past years, is the latest in a long struggle to expand daylight saving time -- a fight that should continue until we hit year-round daylight time.[15] Forbes magazine estimated after the month extension in 1986, sales at 7-11 stores increased by $30-million to $50-million. "Women feel safer in urban areas to shop on their way home when there's light," said Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. "They've known that from the beginning and that's why big cities adopted daylight savings even when smaller rural areas wouldn't take it."[23] Because people get home from work and school and complete more errands and chores in daylight, Daylight Saving Time also seems to reduce people's exposure to various crimes, which are more common in darkness than in light.[24] William Willett, the British architect and golfer who came up with the idea in 1907, wanted to stuff more light into the day so people could play games after work. It took a war for his proposal to become reality: Germany adopted daylight time during World War I to save fuel; the U.S. and Britain quickly matched the enemy's move.[15] Schubert doesn't expect the time change to cause any problems rising above the level of an inconvenience. For most people, he said, the worst-case scenario could be forgetting to move the office clock forward. "A company might get an extra hour of work out of somebody," he said.[25] Don't forget to leap ahead Sunday. No physical jump is required, but an earlier-than-usual change in the daylight-saving time period means Americans must move their clocks forward at 2 a.m. Sunday.[26] Software programmed before 2005, when Congress passed the law to lengthen daylight-saving time, won't make the change until the first Sunday in April. For those who rely on electronic calendars, there is potential for personal catastrophe: Missed dental appointments, fledgling relationships snuffed out because one person didn't show up for a date. Fortunately, all this can be avoided by setting the calendar manually or, for Microsoft users, downloading a program called tzmove Time Zone Move.[19] When Congress extended daylight-saving time in 1986, it noted that the change would mean "more daylight outdoor playtime for the children and youth of our Nation, greater utilization of parks and recreation areas, expanded economic opportunity through extension of daylight hours to peak shopping hours and through extension of domestic office hours to periods of greater overlap with the European Economic Community."[6] Regardless, the goal of the change is to save electricity, which some legislators believe it will. "Ben Franklin certainly would be proud," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., said at the time, "because as the father of daylight-savings time, we are finally implementing his ideas in this legislation." Back in 1784, Benjamin Franklin semiseriously calculated that Paris could save the equivalent of $200 million in candle wax if Parisians better timed their waking hours to daylight.[9] Any energy conservation is good for the environment." Other reasons cited by daylight-saving supporters: It might reduce crime, improve traffic safety, improve pedestrian safety on Halloween, provide more outdoor playtime for children, boost the use of parks and recreation areas, help retailers by expanding daylight to peak shopping hours and boost business by providing a larger time overlap with Europe.[27] In an "Explainer" column printed two years ago and reproduced below, Daniel Engber described how the new system could save money. Springing forward Congress is on the verge of passing a new energy bill this week that would make daylight-saving time last from mid-March to early November.[28] Michael Downing, however, takes issue with that premise. The Boston-area author said he doesn't mind a little extra sunshine, but dismissed the common notion that daylight-saving time saves energy - one of the reasons Congress cited for extending the annual time shift.[8] Under Reagan, an extra month was added again at the urging of business groups who expected increased profits with longer days. If the energy bill passes this week, daylight-saving time would once again extend to eight months.[28] A California Energy Commission analysis found that "there is no clear evidence that electricity will be saved from the earlier start to daylight-saving time on March 11, 2007, but the 7 p.m. peak load will probably drop on the order of 3 percent for the remainder of March, lowering capacity requirements. This could be negated by a new morning spike as it was in Australia in 2000, but that appears unlikely."[19] Lawmakers included the new extension in a large energy package even though the most recent government data on energy savings connected to daylight-saving time was tentative and decades old.[9] Most years, Halloween has fallen during the first days of standard time, when it gets dark earlier. Citing statistics that show children are involved in more pedestrian accidents on Halloween night, candy manufacturers have long been among those lobbying for a daylight-saving time extension. This year, daylight-saving time won't end until Nov. 4, which means more time for daylight trick-or-treating.[29] Last time a U.S. congressional hearing on extending daylight saving time was in 1985, which led to a one-month extension the following year.[23] U.S. businesses have been coping with the time switchover since daylight savings was first established as a voluntary program under the Uniform Time Act of 1966. This year, businesses seem to have everything under control.[14] The act provided that daylight savings time begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October, with the changeover to occur at 2 a.m. local time.[30] Daylight savings time is also widely heralded as a "reminder" date for homeowners. It's a good plan to replace the batteries in battery-operated home smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors at the same time homeowners change clocks. History While daylight savings time is making its first significant change in 20 years, the practice has a storied past.[30] Daylight saving time was re-instituted for three years during World War II but was dropped after the war was over, at least on a national scale.[1] For a country deeply divided on most issues, it should come as no surprise the expanded daylight saving time has plenty of advocates, besides environmentalists, and lots of detractors. Softball teams, which gather on playing fields after work, will be able to start their seasons earlier, as will backyard barbecue enthusiasts.[21] Despite dire warnings that electronic clocks gone wild could cost businesses hundreds of millions of dollars, it's unlikely you'll see any serious impact from the earlier-than-usual switchover to daylight savings time this weekend.[14] The Transportation Department once did a study saying daylight savings reduced America's use of oil by 100,000 barrels a day. Ryan Kellogg and Hendrik Wolff, who are working on their doctorates in economics, say the reduced need for light in the evening will likely be negated by the increased need in the early morning. The folks in Washington apparently hadn't considered this.[31] A 2001 study by the California Department of Energy found that the energy conservation from the annual switch to daylight saving was marginal.[14] Critics say that starting daylight-saving three weeks early may not necessarily cut down the nation's energy bill.' When Australia tried it in 2000 because of the Olympics it was found to not show any measurable savings. Now the Department of Energy says it is going to study the impact of daylight-saving on the U.S. economy as part of its role under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.[32] A study released last year by the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the change will save less than 1 percent of the country's annual energy consumption.[33] The pair began by reviewing 2005 national energy policy, which extolled the virtues of extending DST and claimed it would save 1 percent in electrical energy consumption daily - the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil. That policy, said Kellogg and Wolff, relied on previous experience in the United States with the extension of DST that occurred in response to the Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s, when a recession and other energy conservation efforts may also have reduced electricity use.[11] With an extra month of extra daylight, you won't need to switch on lights as often, which means reduced energy use and electricity bills. Whether the extra light hour actually saves a substantial amount of energy is up for debate, so this year will be the tester, experts say.[34] Representatives Edward Markey and Fred Upton, who sponsored the amendment to the 2005 Energy Bill requiring the change, said the earlier time switch would avoid nearly 10.8 million metric tons of carbon emissions, due to a lowered consumption of electricity during extended daylight hours.[35] I'm just happy to have the extra time to take a family walk, play hoops or linger over drinks at an outdoor cafe. Adding an hour of sunlight at the end of the day is primarily a "lifestyle benefit," Prerau says, but it's mainly the promise of energy savings that got this bill passed in 2005.[15] "The energy savings are modest, and the studies are a little dated," Martin said. Martin said the weather will determine if Michiganders will leave their homes, filled with electronic appliances such as computers, televisions and radios, for outdoor pursuits such as bicycling. Aimee Martin of Lexington said extra hours of sunlight encourage her children to spend more time outside after school.[26] Some studies have noted that that the extra hour of running A/C offsets, or exceeds the energy savings of DST. The whole idea of moving the clocks ahead has always been a debacle.[2] From utility meters and factory time card systems to automated locks and heating systems, the cost of faulty electronic timekeeping could add up quickly. Though some businesses may have paid incremental costs to tweak their systems, the earlier time shift could boost the bottom lines of others. Candy makers, seeing the opportunity for a sweeter Halloween with an extra hour of daylight, were among those that lobbied for the change. [14] I say Hooray!! The extra hour of daylight is great for family time. The longer they extend it the better I will like it. It is more time to get out and enjoy the glorious spring scenery here in the Ozarks.[17] The idea: Align daylight hours with the time that most people are awake and reduce the need for artificial light. "That was theory," Downing said. "It didn't work." Human behavior gets in the way, he said.[8] Ty Malek, who raises Angus beef in Highwood, agrees with Peterson. Switching the clock an hour ahead makes it harder on him, as he prefers to work in the morning light. "I could see pretty good at 6 o'clock this morning," he said recently. As for his cows, they don't seem to care much. Malek said he doesn't think the time change makes any difference to them.[9] Every spring we are reminded to set our clocks ahead to daylight-saving time, and invariably some among us forget. They show up to Monday morning meetings that are wrapping up, out of breath and disheveled, muttering about the time change. This year the ranks of the rankled may grow.[19] Your computer will likely make a second adjustment when the old date rolls around, putting your clock off an hour again. What's more, you will run into the same problem again when daylight-saving time expires later this year. Both Apple and Microsoft have distributed patches for download to all registered users of newer operating systems still being maintained.[6] When Americans set their clocks ahead at 2 a.m. Sunday, they will trade an hour's sleep for more sunlight in the evenings. Skies will see more sun than usual, as daylight-saving time comes about a month earlier this year.[27] Daylight-saving time will arrive at 2 a.m. Sunday, three weeks earlier than in past years. We'll lose an hour this weekend and awaken Monday morning, under protest, in the dark.[6] In case you missed it, daylight-saving time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday in Fort Wayne, which first "sprang forward" last year. This year not only will we spring forward again, but we'll do it three weeks earlier before "falling back" one week later, on Nov. 4.[36] Today, daylight-saving time is observed in about 70 countries in addition to the U.S. Starting and ending dates vary slightly, but DST always begins in early spring and ends in early- to mid-fall.[6] Bob Aldrich works for the commission and notes that the nation now uses energy differently than it did decades ago. He says we'll just have to wait and see how much energy actually gets saved with an extended daylight-saving time.[5] The federal government doesn't have enough authority to regulate the rotation of the Earth, but with daylight-saving time, the sun seems to stay up later in the evening and people don't need to use as much electricity for lights.[25] Evening traffic is heavier because it includes commuters and people running errands or heading out for evening activities. The National Parent Teacher Association has opposed daylight-saving time for years because members worry it's more dangerous for children to wait for buses or walk to school in the lingering morning darkness.[9] World War II brought a renewed need for fuel savings and, with it, a nationwide requirement that daylight-saving time be observed year-round. [6] The earlier time change may confuse your computer, which may be set up to expect daylight-saving time to start in April.[6] In the 550-page bill that included tax incentives for energy-conserving devices and regulations for water usage in public buildings, Congress moved the start of daylight-saving time to the second Sunday in March.[37] An energy bill signed by President Bush Aug. 8, 2005, extended daylight-saving time as part of a long-term plan to solve the nation's energy problems.[38] A department spokesman said decades-old data show that daylight-saving time does, indeed, save a small amount of electricity.[8] Benjamin Franklin — shown in a 1783 engraving by Nathaniel Currier — is credited with advancing the concept of daylight-saving time. He wanted to save candles.[5] As some of you may recall, after the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, a longer period of daylight-saving time saved the nation 10,000 barrels of oil per day. These were wonderful adversity-defying times when Americans not busy beating one another up in long gas lines could be heard grumbling, "Why don't we just go and take the damn oil."[39] Why: Studies show that daylight-saving time reduces household electrical use nationwide by 1 percent each day.[7] An extended daylight-saving time will affect two time-honored traditions in the fall: Halloween and Election Day.[29] Federal law mandates states must follow all or none of the centralized schedule for daylight-saving time.[37] The roots of daylight-saving time run deep and strange, And it's going to be nice to have another hour in the sun today.[39] The clock function on cellular phones is controlled by information in the signal from the network, so when daylight-saving time kicks in, the time automatically changes.[36] Standard time will resume the first Sunday in November, resulting in four more weeks of daylight-saving time than in previous years.[7] At 2 a.m. on March 11 the United States will spring forward three weeks earlier than usual, as the country implements the first change to its time standards since 1986.[33] We will be up to 34 weeks total of DST. Standard time is not much of a "standard" anymore with only 18 weeks left for "regular time." Just when our kiddies were starting to see glimpses of sunlight in recent days waiting along their driveways and roads, this law makes sunrise on Monday, March 12 the same time it was on Jan. 21.[1] A new federal law takes effect this month that moves the start of daylight- saving time up, and shifts it back a week in the fall.[30] While most Canadian provinces' decisions to extend daylight saving hours this year weighed heavily on the U.S. doing so, Congress has been lobbied by hundreds of industries that stood to benefit from the move.[4] The Congress believes with longer hours of daylight, less artificial light will be used. For this idea to take effect the Americans set their clocks one hour forward and turn them back again as the saving of daylight ceases.[23] "Most people prefer to have the extra hour of daylight." The reason Americans switch back in the fall is a compromise between those who don't like the DST method, he said.[20] According to David Prerau's book "Seize the Daylight," the notoriously late riser argued an extra hour of daylight in the evening would help people save candle power. Candle power - as in candles, since that's what people were using in those days.[6] Lawmakers say that the extra hour of daylight in the early evening reduces traffic accidents, benefits the economy and even reduces crime.[17] The additional four weeks each year of shifting an hour of daylight from morning to evening is expected to cut fuel consumption, as demand falls for electricity during early evening peak hours, according to experts.[21] Just think, in taking Willett's advice the Brits would have gained years of time, thus missing World War I altogether. The hayseed U.S. was procrastinating about deciding on one less sunny morning hour being wasted on such slothful activities as sleep.[39] The major inconvenience may be in longer connecting times for international air travel. U.S. airlines, money trading business and computer companies say they are prepared and won't face any major disruptions. Much less preparation has been devoted to this clock change than to the one that occurred at the turn of the century seven years ago.[3] Setting the clocks ahead is a signal that summer is not far off. This year, routine clock changing is not so routine. Machines aren't as flexible as people, so those who rely on computers and electronic devices that automatically change the time might have a problem.[19] Computer scientist Keith Schubert, however, is confident that people don't need to worry the time change will cause a technological snafu.[25] Some people with machines five years old or more, may have to manually reset the time by one hour on Sunday and then again on April 1 when the systems recognizes the actual time change.[24] "The idea of the change is to get people out during the daytime hours and home earlier at night saving energy," professor of natural sciences at Sierra Nevada College, Dr. Chuck Levitan said. "This is a small, cheap and effective way the government can try and reduce the high cost of energy. I think it's a step in the right direction for energy conservation."[24] Energy savings was one primary motivation behind the shift, but it's arguable whether the change will be worthwhile. The California Energy Commission estimated that the extra month will save the state only one-half of 1 percent of their current energy expenditures.[34] You were supposed to move your clock ahead one hour. A dozen household gadgets that have no business containing a clock at all may still be awaiting this weeks-ahead-of-schedule change so badly needed to save precious energy resources.[39] The two said, shifting Australians' clocks led to a tiny increase in power use. "The response I've been getting when talking to people is, 'Well, why are we doing this if this doesn't save any energy?'" said Kellogg.[31] After the 2005 energy law was signed by President Bush, many of the larger corporations were warned that the early advance to DST might alter their computer network operations. Many of these same companies have taken the earlier time switch in stride and have added DST work to their maintenance schedules. [40] Computers and many other devices now are programmed to automatically adjust for daylight-saving time.[27] Congress did hear from airlines, which were concerned about the disruption of international schedules and expensive reprogramming of high-tech systems with automatic daylight-saving time changeover dates.[9] "I don't think it will have a whole lot of effect on us in the long run. It will affect some of our equipment, our automatic recorders and so on, that will not reset to daylight-saving time. We will have to go in manually and reset those."[41] Don't believe the hype. This year's early arrival of daylight-saving time - it's scheduled to begin at 2 a.m. Sunday, for anyone who hasn't been paying attention - has gotten a lot of attention because many electronic devices are programmed to make the time switch in April.[25] SCHOOL TRAVEL But for school districts, which were getting used to picking students up in increasing daylight, the change means going backward in time. [41] If daylight time extended too far into the winter, more people would wake up before sunrise and turn on the lights.[28] A federal study of expanding daylight time in the '70s found a drop in crime in the District of about 10 percent when daylight time is in effect.[15] The department intends to study the new extension. Their differences finally allowed Downing and Preau to meet for the first time Friday - at a TV studio, where they were to discuss the benefits and shortcomings of springing forward and falling back.[8] "I'm looking forward to. I like the extra time after 5 p.m. I'm from California, and I don't like the winter," she said. Martin said she hates the annual "fall back" adjustment, usually on the third Sunday in October. This year that falls on the first Sunday in November. "I just dread it," she said. "It seems like a long time till it's over."[26] Initially the start day was the first Sunday in April but now it has been advanced three weeks which means saving extra energy. [23] There is one thing the bill definitely accomplishes. It mandates lots of new studies by our federal government. It will create a lot of jobs in the Department of Energy to monitor, analyze and develop massive amounts of paperwork about our energy situation, enough paperwork to start a number of large bonfires. That might contribute to our energy needs as much as starting DST three weeks early.[1] The act stipulates that the secretary of energy must report to Congress by December on the change in energy consumption in the affected weeks of 2007 compared to that in past years.[37] The change comes from a 2005 law that aimed to reduce energy costs by limiting our consumption of oil.[28] The aggregate energy consumption reductions the new law hopes to achieve won't be apparent to the average American household.[29] Legislation with the latest changes, approved by Congress in August 2005, said the switch "may yield significant energy savings in electrical power consumption."[27] Welch said the study the energy department will submit to Congress would analyze the raw numbers and try to account for anomalies in consumption.[37] The Department of Energy issued a report that also predicted relatively small energy savings for the country as a whole, and will issue another report in the fall detailing the actual savings, said Department of Energy spokesperson Tom Welch.[34] The researchers found a similar experiment produced no drop in electricity use among Australians during an extended daylight saving period there for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. [12] Forbes magazine estimated after the month extension in 1986, sales at 7-11 stores increased by $30-million to $50-million. "Women feel safer in urban areas to shop on their way home when there's light," Mr. Downing said. "They've known that from the beginning and that's why big cities adopted daylight savings even when smaller rural areas wouldn't take it."[4] According to the congressional testimony in 1985, the golf industry estimated an extra month of daylight saving would amount to U.S.$200-million in extra equipment sales and green fees.[4] Candy manufacturers see brisker sales at Halloween as children will have an extra hour of daylight to go door-to-door begging for sweets during the late-October holiday.[21] "We have in the last week of October. They figure if kids have an extra hour of sunlight to trick or treat they'll collect millions of dollars more in candy."[4] "People come in late to return gear because 'they didn't remember the time change' and we are usually lenient about it. The fact its three weeks early this year, we can assume most people won't know about it." [24] That settled, people can concentrate on adjusting their bodies to the change. People who suffer from insomnia or other sleep disorders may have a problem with the time change, but more so if they worry about it so much that they create a self-fulfilling prophecy, said a University of California San Diego sleep expert.[19] Porter's Sports snowboard tech Ry Mitchem is expecting a handful of people to bring in rentals late on Sunday. "It happens every time change," he said.[24] Anyone with a reasonably modern machine, the system knows about the new time change and people won't have to worry.[24] Montana residents aren't the only ones coping with the change. Some folks in other states are getting ready to switch their clocks for the second time.[9] Setting the clock to wake us an hour earlier can cut into our sleep cycles, pulling us from sleep at an inopportune time that leaves us groggy.[19] To keep your body systems in sync with local time, your body's internal clock relies on cues from sunlight, particularly early morning light.[34] The major issues would be longer connecting times for international air travel, sources have told dpa. The main idea behind this switch is to preserve energy bu using natural light longer.[42] Easing back your bedtime in 15-minute increments can make the transition easier. Lower the lights in your room earlier so your brain gets the signal it's time to start winding down.[36] In Britain, Parliament is considering a move to adopt daylight time in the winter and double daylight time in summer. [15] In 1918, the U. S. adopted the act of preserving daylight hours for seven months. The move was repealed in 1919 because of its unpopularity.[20] The Star-Tribune notes that the idea behind DST is to move an hour of "wasted" sunlight to the other end of the day, when people are actually awake.[2] Congress was thinking of making a law that would make the sun shine for two more hours a day but were stumped on how to get the Earth and sun to cooperate. Maybe we could move Congress to Argentina during our winter months here and summers there to make them feel as if they were making a difference.[1] To fix that, Congress passed a law in 1966 that said no state had to have DST, but if it did, it must start and end on the same date, and it had to be uniform across the state.[20] When you use your equipment after 2 a.m. April 1, when DST was originally scheduled to begin, make sure it displays the correct time before you rely on the equipment. [36] Critics of the early change say businesses have been slow in updating critical computer systems and fear it might lead to inaccurate times for business transactions and timetables.[35] COMPLICATION: Wendell Roy, a network analyst for St. Clair County, checks computer servers Feb. 27 at the county courthouse. Technology experts say everything thing that runs off a network system could be affected by this year's time change, including PDAs, smart phones and personal computers.[26] According to Microsoft, unless certain updates are applied to computers, the time zone settings for a user's computer's system clock may be incorrect during the four-week period. Users must make sure both the Windows operating system and calendar programs are updated.[30] Clocks in the U.S. went forward on Saturday three weeks earlier than usual, following a government drive to increase energy savings. [35] Studies by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that the clock shift reduces the nation's usage of electricity by about 1 percent a day because less power is used for lighting and appliances.[41] Telling time has been a part of society for centuries, and in the earliest days people could tell time in some fashion simply by looking at the sun. [20] While it did save energy, Nixon's act also increased the number of morning traffic accidents involving schoolchildren. These "dark morning" incidents were offset by a reduction in child accidents later in the day, but the government returned to the six-month schedule for 1976.[28] Conserving energy is a seriously wonderful idea because it may again save our nation 10,000 barrels of oil per day.[39] The sponsors of the daylight amendment say it will save the country at least $180 million in energy costs.[28] "Most studies have shown it saves energy," even taking into account increased gasoline use and other factors, Prerau said Friday.[8] Extra sunlight in the evening would arguably delay when lights are turned on in homes and the government believes that would reduce energy consumption. [43] In addition to energy savings, the study found extended Daylight-saving reduced accidents during the evening commute and actually cut down on crime.[2] Australia, of course, is not America, but the two researchers say their study is not a good sign. "While we cannot directly apply our results to other countries without adjustment for behavioral and climatic differences, this study raises concern that the U.S. is unlikely to see the anticipated energy conservation benefits from extending DST."[31] With work schedules today, including shift-work and flex schedules, the energy benefit of changing our clocks seems negligible.[1] This year, clocks need to be adjusted earlier, thanks to a change included in a 2005 energy bill that passed Congress.[9] In the final stages of writing the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a package that included billions in subsidies for oil and gas producers, utility companies and ethanol makers, the bill's proponents were looking to placate supporters of conservation, which critics said had been largely overlooked.[14] Washingtonians rebelled, deriding Harding's policy as "rag time." After one summer of confusion, Harding backed down and repealed his order. This morning, by federal mandate, the sun rose at 7:26; yesterday, at 6:28. [15] Our lives have expanded so far into the early morning and the late evening that the notion of saving daylight may seem antiquated.[19] The theory behind the fuel savings is that "a lot of people sleep through sunrise and businesses are closed," Prerau says, "but everyone's up at sunset and businesses are open, so more electricity is used in the evening.[15] April, the United States saved about 300,000 barrels of oil annually. As far as the computer issue, Schubert is sure computer users will be able to figure out how to solve the time-change problem on their own. "A few years ago, people did that manually every year, and somehow, people survived," he said. Software patches aren't without their own issues, however. [25] Check your smoke detectors. Fire departments around the country have long used the onset of DST to remind people to change the batteries in their smoke alarms.[36] The closer a location is to the North or South Pole, the longer the period of daylight in the summer. DST is usually not helpful in the tropics, and countries near the equator generally do no change their clocks.[44] Now look, you either get up right now and change the clocks or you spend from now until next November remembering that the things are running an hour behind. [39] The city clock at Second and Cowls streets stsikes 2 p.m. When it strikes 2 o'clock Sunday morning, we'll "spring forward" one hour as daylight-saving-time makes its earliest-ever appearance.[6] Many older electronic devices have internal clocks that are programmed to spring forward in April, not March. That has raised fears of a mini-Y2K-type problem. It's why Congress gave the public two years' notice before making the switch.[5] Two hours of sunlight exposure in the morning will shift a person's internal clock by an hour each day, Loredo said. [19] No matter what, the same amount of energy will be used since, in the morning, it's dark for a hour longer.[9] Proponents argued that the shift would reduce America's energy consumption during that period about 1 percent. [31] The savings are not gigantic -- maybe only 1 percent or 2 percent of a country's total electrical consumption is saved.[2] The net effect, the study found, was savings â''on the order of one half of one percent, but savings could just as well be zero.[14] REFERENCES 1. The Herald-Mail ONLINE 2. National Ledger - Daylight Savings Time Debacle: Clocks Move Early for 'Happiness' 3. More light, less energy: US moves up Daylight Saving Time 4. Winners of new daylight savings 5. NPR : Energy Concerns Push Clocks Forward this Weekend 6. News-Register.com 7. Inland News | PE.com | Southern California News | News for Inland Southern California 8. courant.com | Daylight-Saving Time Saves Energy? It's Debatable 9. Great Falls Tribune - www.greatfallstribune.com - Great Falls, MT 10. CQPolitics.com - Political Trivia for March 12 11. 03.08.2007 - US experiment extending Daylight Saving Time unlikely energy saver, researchers say 12. Daily Democrat Online - Daylight saving time won't save energy 13. World - Dominican Today 14. No Need To Stress About Early Daylight Saving - More From MSNBC.com 15. Marc Fisher - Whether for Saving Energy or Boosting Spirits, a Bit More Daylight Is Welcome - washingtonpost.com 16. IOL: US readies to change clocks for environment 17. Baxter Bulletin - www.baxterbulletin.com - 18. BBC NEWS | Americas | US time switch set to save energy 19. SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Adjust your internal clock, too 20. JG-TC.com > News > Studying the effects of Daylight Saving Time 21. Earlier start to US daylight saving | WORLD | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz 22. Earlier daylight saving just a waste of time 23. Daylight Saving Time Advanced - The Money Times 24. North Lake Tahoe Bonanza - News 25. San Bernardino County Sun - The times are a-changin' early 26. Times Herald - www.thetimesherald.com - Port Huron, MI 27. Northwest Herald - March to daylight 28. Why does daylight-saving time save energy? - By Daniel Engber - Slate Magazine 29. APP.COM - Time change an energy saver | Asbury Park Press Online 30. The Register Citizen - Daylight-savings time may cause some problems this year 31. ABC News: Will the Daylight Savings Shift Do Us Any Good? 32. AXcessNews.com - Spring Daylight-Saving Time Starts Sunday 33. Daylight Saving Change: Energy Boon or Waste of Time? 34. FOXNews.com - Daylight-Saving Shift Might Be Bad for Your Health - Science News | Current Articles 35. Al Jazeera English - News 36. News-Sentinel | 03/09/2007 | Ready to spring forward? DST begins Sunday 37. South Bend Tribune 38. Journal-Advocate - Sterling, Colorado 39. Today kids, parents can bond by resetting all the clocks at home 40. Remember: Spring Forward Sunday 41. The Press Republican - Americans love, hate daylight-saving time 42. Bulgaria: US Moves Daylight Saving Date to Save Energy 43. Bangkok Post Breaking News 44. Beauregard Daily News |