DST Part II - The truth comes out.

After posting the last tirade about the lies of DST and how it will not save any energy, I've received a lot of comments (only 3 posted comments, however). Some were in complete agreement, and other were not. One person even told Nikkala that my posts were boring and that she fell asleep reading them. Well, I'm sorry that I put any of you to sleep. At least you don't read my posts while you are driving. That could be really dangerous.

But now to the point... and especially to those of you who think I got it wrong with DST. Read this and then post how sorry you were to ever doubt me!

This morning Ars Technica had a short article on the early results of the changed DST. Here is a quick quote from the article (although I hope you all read the whole thing):

As it turns out, the US Department of Energy was correct when they predicted that there would be little energy savings. This echoed concerns voiced after a similar experiment was attempted in Australia. Critics pointed out a basic fact: the gains in the morning will be offset by the losses at night. That appears to be exactly what happened. Reuters spoke with Jason Cuevas, spokesman for Southern Co. power, who said it plainly: "We haven't seen any measurable impact." New Jersey's Public Service Enterprise Group said the same thing: "no impact" on their business. So while the US government pats itself on the back for at least looking busy, know that the main goal—energy conservation—has not been met.

The Reuters article mentioned above is where the story broke. It mentions some of the same things that my last post mentions... including the fact that less than 10% of electricity is used for lighting. The story fails to mention the increased use of other energy sources because of the change. The Australian study mentioned in the earlier post (found here) mentions this about energy saving models and reality:

Moreover, the lessons from Australia may carry over to the U.S. and to California—Victoria’s latitude and climate are similar to those of central California. In 2007 DST will be observed in March—a month that is analogous to September in Australia, when our point estimates suggest that DST will increase rather than decrease electricity consumption. Further,when we re-estimate the simulation model that supported a DST extension in California, using Australian data, we find that it over-estimates energy savings. This casts suspicion on its previous policy applications in the U.S., and provides further evidence that current plans to extend DST may be misguided. It should be noted that our estimates of energy use likely represent a lower bound, as we account for electricity consumption only. Including gasoline demand in the analysis may increase the estimate of DST’s effect on energy consumption, as longer and warmer evening hours drive an increase in evening leisure travel.

This is the real problem, dependence on foreign oil. Saving electricity generated from hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, and other sources is not going to "save the world". What we need now is that 300 mpg carburetor...or this little gem!