First, some kudos

For all the people that increase the temperature of the shower by adjusting the ‘cold tap’ instead of the ‘hot tap’…four (random and totally arbitrary) points awarded to you for your environmental stewardship.

Daylight Savings Time

The Issue

Although I am not a big fan of this semi-annual clock adjustment, I do support its historically intended function, as contentious as it is and only until its function can be proven irrelevant. Given that DST was designed and implemented over a century ago, the contention lies in whether today’s energy usage patterns are remotely close to what they were then–and whether different districts (latitudinal and longitudinal) are affected by it universally.

Historically Speaking

[Here we’d like to insert a relevant cartoon, but since we don’t have reproduction rights here’s a link to it instead: http://www.offthemarkcartoons.com/cartoons/2007-11-03.gif]

The best info we have is based on a few reports that were completed using a limited amount of random locations. It seems illogical that in today’s day and age no reputable organization has calculated or proven the energy or economic worth of using Daylight Savings Time for the world’s various locations. Presumably there must be some merit in its use, as it has been legislated through some levels of government with the intention of environmental benefit.

Energy conserving?

The only fact perpetually surrounding DST is that it was originally designed to save the use of lighting energy throughout the warm season days. Adding more daylight hours in the evening certainly should reduce the artificial lighting requirements of most buildings but what about the additional darker hours of the morning? One would think that these would equate. (Surely “they” don’t assume everyone stays in bed until the sun rises.) The theory behind it is that more energy is conserved through the evening than the extra energy consumed in the morning.

This column doesn’t really have any resolve but it does contain some food for thought. Speaking of food, outside of the energy-saving debate my Saskatchewan brethren won’t adopt DST because it messes with agricultural schedules. I have talked to NS farmers who would also like to see it disappear.

I wonder if anyone in the upper hierarchy at NSPI will tell me if DST is something they covet? That would explain a lot…