Daylight Savings Time (DST) began during World War I. Its objective, then and now, was to save energy.
During the war, energy savings in the home translated into more energy available for the war effort, in every venue from making the bombs to fueling the planes which dropped them. Americans, less disillusioned by political chicanery than they are now, were glad to cooperate.

Daylight Savings was put in place again during the Second World War, again for the same purpose, and abandoned – again – until 1966, when the Uniform Time Act reinstated it. DST is not an obligatory function; states are free to use it or disregard it at their leisure. Even so, DST is observed in most states except Hawaii and Arizona, and most U.S. territories except Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa. The Navajo Nation, spread across three states (including non-participating Arizona), observes DST. Indiana, already in two time zones, also partakes of the yearly ritual, creating more than the usual confusion. Approximately 70 foreign countries also join the foray, though their schedules may differ from the U.S. Non-participating countries include parts of Canada (Saskatchewan and N. British Columbia), India, China and Japan. Australia is about evenly divided on the dispute, with some areas on DST and others on "real" time.

Implementing DST creates tremendous confusion in all time-constrained operations, including airline scheduling, customer service operations, IT systems (particularly if they are outsourced abroad, India for example), shipping, scheduling, routine maintenance procedures (some of which must be done at precise times to prevent mechanical failure, like nuclear power plants), routing and tracking protocols, and hundreds of other areas. In all, the chaos generated by implementing DST is widespread and the cost incalculable.

Daylight Savings does not save energy. An Indiana study showed a 1-4 percent increase in electricity use in counties running on DST. On a national basis, this represents an additional energy-dollar consumption of more than $8 million. More daylight also means more people driving, since the modern human brain is still hardwired to avoid darkness (which represents invisible danger). Add to that the fact that – for several weeks in the spring and fall – we have to light our homes in the morning, and any energy savings from DST are obliterated.

Daylight Savings does curb crime, primarily because violent crimes are not easily conducted in broad daylight. It also causes a rise in school bus accidents in the early morning, which is why it was repealed as a year-round event in 1973.

DST used to run from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, as passed by Congress, extended the provision. DST now starts three weeks earlier and ends one week later, to give trick-or-treaters added daylight. This supposedly benefits Americans by adding an extra hour of daylight in the evening.

The benefits are unfortunately offset by another hour of darkness in the morning. This darkness, banished in late February as the earth tilts on its axis, returns again for a few weeks (until late March) in areas implementing DST. This unexpected and abrupt shift, from light to darkness again, affects a significant number of people, especially those with Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, and results in disorientation, mood swings, and a loss of productivity until the tilt of the earth catches up with human (or should I say congressional?) antics.

This four-week extension of DST is the brainchild of Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), who calls it a "feel-good" policy. Markey also expects traffic accidents and crime rates to drop. He hasn’t met me before the first cup of coffee on a dark and chilly spring morning.

Markey, with 31 years, is the third longest serving congressional member from New England, ranking behind only Ted Kennedy (45 years) and Patrick Leahy (33 years). According to a 2007 report, almost 75 percent of Markey’s PAC campaign contributions came from business. Individual contributors outpaced PAC contributions by 6 to 1. Otherwise, Markey appears to be a people’s politician, tackling everything from corporate crime to Internet freedom. the National Journal, a nonpartisan political publication, gives Markey a Composite Liberal score in the mid-90s.

Markey’s ties to business are evident, and business – in the form of retailers and merchants – is the primary beneficiary of DST. More hours of daylight translates in the human brain to more hours of shopping. Or more hours of golfing, according to Michael Downing, a writing professor at Tufts University who wrote the book on DST (Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time). According to Downing, giving people that extra hour of evening daylight means they will stop after work to shop. Or golf. Downing notes in his book that more Americans currently live on golf courses than on farms, so the lobbying power remains firmly on the side of keeping DST in place in spite of the logistical nightmare it presents every year.

It is perhaps no coincidence that the expanded DST program coincided with an increase in gas prices in 2007. The same thing happened this spring. With oil topping $109 a barrel, it might be wise to ignore that extra hour of beckoning light and concentrate on getting home before the foreclosure agent starts appraising the house for possible resale. Foreclosures are at a 23-year high, and mortgage giants like Countrywide, and peripheral companies like the Carlyle Group and Bear Sterns, are facing a hard fall. They will likely take a lot of homeowners with them. Shopping for all but necessities may become common as the U.S. slides into the worst recession in 70 years.

In any case, DST is not about saving energy, so any claimed environmental benefits are simply another example of greenwashing.

Disclosure: I don’t own stock in any oil company.

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