Daylight Saving Time began at 2:00am on Sunday, it will last until November 3.

There are many reasons for the change, but some have become outdated.

Is it time to eliminate Daylight Saving Time?

The idea to end Daylight Saving Time isn't new.  We talked about it last spring and a recent survey shows that 40% of Americans think Daylight Saving Time should be eliminated.

That same survey finds that 34% of Americans see Daylight Saving Time as an energy saver.  It once was, but it seems those days are gone.  The 24/7 nature of modern business has led to a change in the way we consume energy.  Studies show that Daylight Saving Time saves little to no energy and it may actually increase energy consumption in some areas.

Yahoo.com reports:

Scientific American noted studies conducted in Indiana that showed daylight saving time actually caused an increase of 1 percent in residential electricity use, costing consumers an extra $9 million.

The California Energy Commission noted a negligible 0.02 percent drop in energy use.

The U.S. Department of Energy conducted a larger study over multiple states and found that DST saved 0.5 percent of electricity consumption in the U.S.

Not surprisingly, it has also been found that worker productivity decreases in the days immediately after the begining of Daylight Saving Time.

Researchers used Google data as well as an experiment that tested how sleep-deprived subjects reacted to having to attend a boring lecture to conclude that the 40 minutes of average sleep lost to daylight saving time causes workers to “self-regulate” less efficiently, and in turn increase their hourly “cyberloafing” by an average of 8.4 minutes.

If the change in sleep effects workers this way, it's hard to imagine it not having a negative effect on students as well.

Yes, the extra daylight can be nice at times, but is it enough reason to continue Daylight Saving Time?

 

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