A time to change |
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Daylight saving time comes early and stays late Posted 3/4/2008 11:33:57 AM Time down under
In Brisbane, Australia, where daylight saving time is not observed, a candidate for Lord Mayor wants daylight saving time just for the city. It is part of his effort to tackle global climate change. "It was initially introduced as a war-time energy saving measure," said former rock musician and candidate Bryan Crawford. "Given that we are both the 'sunshine' state and are looking to reduce our energy consumption, reintroducing daylight saving makes sense," he said. A 2007 AC Nielsen survey found 69 per cent of Southeast Queenslanders wanted daylight saving but 64 percent of regional Queenslanders did not. The Queensland state government last year closed the lid on further debate, ruling out both a move to daylight saving and a referendum on the subject. ~Brisbane Times Floridians suspected it all along. Daylight saving time is a fraud foisted on us by a legion of bureaucrats claiming it saves energy and may aid in the fight against global warming. The switch to daylight saving time is costing Indiana residential electricity users $8.6 million a year, according to a new study by the University of California. "The point of this study is just to shed light on the old myth that daylight saving time saves energy," said Matthew J. Kotchen, a University of California-Santa Barbara economics professor who conducted the study. The university study found electricity consumption - when differences in weather and other factors were taken into consideration - increased by up to 4 percent, about $3.19 a year. Daylight saving time reduces lighting costs in Indiana, but increases both air conditioning and heating costs too much to offset those savings. Experts say the same situation may exist in Florida because of heavy reliance on air conditioning. This year's change on March 9 is no different. In the fall we revert to standard time on Nov. 2. Until a federal law unified the change to daylight saving time, the U.S. was a hodgepodge of rules, regulations and weirdly shaped zones. Daylight saving time has been a harbinger of spring. Unless, of course, you live in Arizona (except the Navajo Nation) Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Somoa. Those locales observe standard time all year. In 2007, sleepless Americans made the change near the end of winter instead of the beginning of spring. Winter doesn't end this year until March 20, the spring equinox. If you are not confused now, consider that until April 2005, Indiana had a more complex time system. Not only is the state split between two time zones, but until recently, only some counties of the Hoosier state observed daylight saving time while the majority of the counties did not. Under the old Indiana system, 77 of the state's 92 counties were on Eastern Standard Time, but did not change to daylight saving time in April. Instead those counties remained on standard time all year. That is, except for two counties near Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., which did use daylight time. But the counties in the northwest corner of Indiana near Chicago and the southwestern tip near Evansville, which are in the Central Time Zone, used both standard and daylight time. The battle between standard time and daylight saving time has always been contentious. Nobody is predicting a change in the controversy just because of the federal law -- or the energy study. In Arizona, a Las Cruces Sun-News columnist, Thomas Wark, proposed a national day of tongue-in-cheek protest against daylight saving time during the Official Citizens Constitutional Dissent Against the Abomination of Nature Called Daylight Saving Time.
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Americans are continuing to debate about daylight saving time -- at least twice a year.|
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Check tasks other than time For years, fire and emergency officials urged homeowners to check smoke detector batteries on the first day of the year. Other groups are trying to carve their niche with daylight saving time. The American Public Health Association wants citizens to prepare for health emergencies. "Since we already use daylight saving as an opportunity to ensure that our families are prepared for an emergency, it's a great time for us also to make sure that we have a fully stocked emergency kit and that none of the perishable items have expired," said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin of the APHA. "When we spring forward this year, we want every American to make sure their family has a preparedness kit to fall back on in the event of an emergency." The association has a free checklist for preparedness that can be downloaded here. Adjust gadgets to a new time Daylight saving time starts earlier than previous years. Unless you change them, many systems will remain programmed to start daylight saving time on its old date in April, not the new date. Here are some common problems and how to fix them: VCR Manually reset the time March 9 and do it again in April, when the VCR thinks daylight saving time starts, and again in the fall. Cable television equipment Bright House Networks does it for you. Cell phones Cell phones should display the correct date and time because they get that information from their service providers' networks. Computer clocks Check Microsoft's Web site to see whether you have anything to worry about. No need to worry if your computer is running Windows Vista because your system will update itself. Some Windows XP owners use a Microsoft Internet service called Automatic Update that routinely downloads bug fixes and patches to their PC's, and they should have received a fix. Those who don't use the service will have to get the patch from Microsoft's Web site. Daylight saving configuration
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