Studies – and some politicians – cast doubt on Daylight Saving Time’s value

The extra hour of sleep that comes for many with the switch to standard time may be welcome. But daylight saving, said to have been thought up by Benjamin Franklin (to save candles) and first put into practice by German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II Emperor during World War I, seems to be becoming less popular with Americans and at least one politician. In Alabama, state Sen. Rusty Glover is crafting a bill that ends the semiannual clock switching by keeping time in his state at what now is daylight saving.

It’s time to move on. Our legislation will end the arcane, imposed, and artificial time adjustments that simply make no sense.

Alabama , state Sen. Rusty Glover

The time switch may not be saving all that much energy, which is one of the main reasons for the tradition. In Indiana, daylight saving time caused a 1 per cent jump in electricity, according to a 2010 study. The energy saved from reduced lighting in the summer months was cancelled out by an increase in the use of heating and air conditioning, researchers from Yale University and University of California Santa Barbara said. Aside from the energy question, a small shift in time also “can have a large impact on our body clock,” according to Business Insider.

This sleepiness leads to a loss of productivity and an increase in ‘cyberloafing’ in which people muck around more on the computer instead of working.

a Business Insider report

Science daylight saving time