Who doesn't look forward to the long days of summer when, after a full day at the office, the sun has yet to set as the car pulls into the driveway.
But what makes the days seem longer--an extra hour of sunlight in the evening--can also mean reduced electricity usage, according to studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the California Energy Commission.
The Transportation Department report on the benefits of daylight saving time found a 1% reduction in electricity use across the country. Preliminary reports from the state Energy Commission found that the savings locally could be nearly 2% when daylight saving time was in effect.
For this reason I have introduced the Energy Time Adjustment Authorization Act (House Rule 704), which would allow California to adjust its daylight saving time rules during the energy crisis.
Under federal law, states cannot adjust their use of daylight saving time. The bill would allow Sacramento, not Washington, to determine the best use of daylight saving time and implement it.
For example, the state could "double" daylight saving time from the first Sunday in May until the Sunday before Labor Day by moving clocks forward an additional hour. Not only would this mean saving energy, but it would do so at the right time.
From 5 to 8 p.m. is a peak usage time, when people come home and businesses are still operating. With double daylight saving time, when people got home they would not need to turn on all the lights in their home until 9 p.m. They would just need to raise the blinds.
Double daylight saving time would not force people to drive to school or work in darkness in the morning. It would be light by 7 a.m. in May, June and July and by 7:20 a.m. in August. The sun would set between 8:30 and 9 p.m. These summer months are when California is going to face the greatest electrical demand because on the warmest days air-conditioners will run at full blast.
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Using daylight saving time to conserve electricity is hardly a new idea. Ben Franklin first "whimsically" proposed daylight saving time in a 1784 essay. The United States first used it during World War I, when it also was implemented in many European countries to conserve the fuel needed to produce electricity. Daylight saving time was again used during World War II and was observed year-round from Feb. 2, 1942, to Sept. 30, 1945. Year-round daylight saving time was used because of the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s.
