Sunday, November 4, 2007

Remember To Set Your Clocks Back One Hour

abc7news.com: Remember To Set Your Clocks Back One Hour
It's time once again to reset the clocks and savor an extra hour of slumber as daylight saving time comes to an end a week later than usual.

Daylight saving time ends Sunday at 2 a.m.

Because of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, daylight saving time started three weeks early and ends a week later this year as part of a federally-mandated effort to reduce energy consumption.

The effort may be in vain according to some.

The new time change schedule has thrown people off and even computers have needed help, with many automatically switching back a Sunday too early.

During the March time change Microsoft worked to mitigate confusion and problems by issuing a patch and adding automatic updates.
Ryan Kellogg, a Ph.D. student and researcher at University of California, Berkeley's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, said that a study he co-authored on energy consumption in Australia in 2000 shows little difference in electricity use between two neighboring states, only one of which adopted daylight saving time.

The 2005 policy, Kellogg said, is based on energy use patterns in the U.S. during the oil crisis of the early 1970s, when a recession and other conservation efforts may have contributed to a drop in electricity use.

"This really doesn't make a difference," Kellogg said about the extended daylight saving time and energy conservation. "I'm pretty skeptical there's going to be a benefit. Microsoft has had to issue patches, these things cost money. This is something we should stop tinkering with."


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