The Economics of Daylight Savings Time

mayonnaise

It's that time of the year again. Clocks go backwards an hour on Sunday morning.

5 reasons to stop turning the clocks back

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11188313/5-reasons-to-keep-Daylight-Savings-Time-all-year-round.html

1. Energy savings
an extra daily hour of sunlight in winter could save £485 million each year, as people use less electricity and heating.
2. Business benefits
Moving clocks forward by an hour would bring the UK in line with Central European Time, which means London would work the same business hours as Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt and Milan. It would also give the UK an extra hour of overlap with Beijing, Tokyo and other major import and export markets in Asia.
3. Safety improvements
An extra hour of evening daylight could save the NHS £200 million a year in accident related costs.
4. Tourism boost
Lighter and longer winter evenings could provide an annual boost of £3.5 billion to the tourist industry, according to the Tourism Alliance.
5. British sporting success?
The extra hour of daytime increases the time available for exercise, makes people more likely to attend evening sporting events and means professional athletes can train for longer.

(more in linked article)

So what do you think?

michaels

Apparently one of the main reasons for not doing it is because it would then be dark all the time in Scotland between October and March...like we care.

Generali

Given that the day is about half an hour long in December in England I can't imagine it making as much difference as claimed. In QLD in Aus they put daylight savings to a popular vote and the main reason given for voting against was the 'extra' hour of sun would fade your curtains. No won!

michaels wrote: »

Apparently one of the main reasons for not doing it is because it would then be dark all the time in Scotland between October and March...like we care. I bet we offered to add a bit more to their already over generous block grant they would suddenly discover they could live with it, after all if we in the south east are going to continue keeping them as pets we should get to choose what time they have the lights on in their kennels.

Have you considered a career as a diplomat or hostage negotiator perhaps?

CLAPTON

an extra hour of day light is generally more 'useful' in the evening than in the morning
mostly people (adults and children) go straight to work/school in the morning whilst they may dally in the evening


whilst it may make no real difference in the December January, it counts for a lot in the oct/nov/feb / march periods

kabayiri

michaels wrote: »

Apparently one of the main reasons for not doing it is because it would then be dark all the time in Scotland between October and March...like we care.

We should let Scotland do what's right for them, and England do what's right for England etc.

If only the Scots had some kind of parliament, where they could consider this....oh wait!! They do

wotsthat

Say no to political interference in daylight! GMT all the way here. Mid-day is when the sun is at it's highest point. Eons of evolution but politicians know better.

The BBC could just play the same clip to highlight the issues they've been airing since the '70's. They won't though - they'll waste money filming yet another clip of the moaning Scottish dairy farmer milking his cows in the dark. It might even be the same farmer that's got himself a long term gig - the gift that keeps on giving - like a part in a long running advert for Gold Blend or BT.

martinsurrey

wotsthat wrote: »

Mid-day is when the sun is at it's highest point. Eons of evolution but politicians know better.

good luck with your London time being GMT-15mins

http://www.ukweathercams.co.uk/sunrise_sunset_times.php

and your Penzance time being GMT+7 mins

http://www.ukweathercams.co.uk/sunrise_sunset_times.php?id=29763

antrobus

wotsthat wrote: »

Say no to political interference in daylight! GMT all the way here. Mid-day is when the sun is at it's highest point. Eons of evolution but politicians know better....

Only at the Greenwich meridian as far as GMT is concerned. And that was only fixed in 1851, with GMT itself becoming official from 1880.

Otherwise, as the previous poster has noted, the sun is at its highest point at different times depending on how far away you are from the Greenwich meridian. At least in terms of longtitude. I suppose we could go back to local time, but there are good reasons why we abandoned it.

chris_m

antrobus wrote: »

I suppose we could go back to local time,

I bet the train companies would love that - nobody could be sure if the trains were late or not

but there are good reasons why we abandoned it.

Also the train companies - as the first means of "high speed" communication. In the early days of railways the guard would set his watch to "London" time and each stationmaster along the route would set his station clocks by the guard's watch. Ironically, although it was the driver who was required to make sure the train ran to time he wasn't issued with a watch - well, not until he retired

It wasn't until 1880 that the UK government legislated on a standard time.

wotsthat

martinsurrey wrote: »

good luck with your London time being GMT-15mins

http://www.ukweathercams.co.uk/sunrise_sunset_times.php

and your Penzance time being GMT+7 mins

http://www.ukweathercams.co.uk/sunrise_sunset_times.php?id=29763

The mean highest point of the sun at Greenwich does it for me in terms of defining noon and I'll get over a few minutes either way on a day to day basis.

Who cares about Penzance? If it was up to me I'd shift the 0 degree point 0.14° so it went straight through Buckingham Palace. London's where it's at - Greenwich is getting above itself.

martinsurrey

wotsthat wrote: »

TLondon's where it's at - Greenwich is getting above itself.

that sounds awfully political...

wotsthat wrote: »

Say no to political interference in daylight! GMT all the way here. Mid-day is when the sun is at it's highest point. Eons of evolution but politicians know better.