“The only things a golfer needs is more daylight.”
Ben Hogan
Springing ahead makes me happy. Sacrificing an hour of sleep in March seems well worth it to get extra evening daylight all spring and summer. But because it all started over energy use, this week I have been wondering…does daylight savings time impact climate change?
Daylight and energy use
Benjamin Franklin first floated the idea of changing clocks ahead to save money on candles. Then, during WWI, daylight savings time was first instituted in the US. The reason was to conserve energy for the war effort.
This made sense a hundred years ago, when most energy was for lighting. Obviously, our energy needs have grown and changed since then, with more energy now going to heat and cool our homes, and power our appliances. In the modern world, longer evening daylight may actually lead to more energy use. And because the majority of our energy still comes from oil and gas, this won’t help solve climate change.
Stop the madness
Most people want to stop changing clocks back and forth. But which is better – standard or DST? There are arguments for both, and as with most things, it depends who you ask. Golf courses, retail businesses, and people who enjoy outdoor hobbies are probably in favor of making DST year-round. Parents sending their kids to the school bus on dark mornings, and health or sleep experts likely prefer standard time.
Moving to make it permanent
In recent years, the percentage of the year spent in daylight savings time has been growing, and there has been a lot of chatter about making it permanent. The Senate passed a bill to do so last year, and things are stirring up again in Congress. Several states are working on changing their laws as well.
The funny thing is, we have been down this road before. In the 70’s the US gave permanent DST a try, and it was so unpopular, we changed back.
So, what about climate change?
If daylight savings helped reduce our use of fossil fuels, that would be a good reason to keep it around. But with a warming climate, the opposite may actually be true. So, as much as I like the extra evening daylight, when it comes to solving climate change, it might be better if we don’t spring forward after all.
Let’s do something about climate change. Learn about it. Think about it. Talk about it.