Summer time has exceeded its reason for being

By Lyle Larson, for the Express-News

published

22:00 PDT, Saturday, November 3, 2018

Are you tired of falling back and jumping every year?

In 1918, motivated by the laudable goal of saving energy, Congress enacted the law that always requires us to change the clock twice a year, which has happened this week-end. As coal was the exclusive source of energy at that time, it made sense to ensure that Americans had more hours of clarity, and summer time had actually allowed to save energy.

However, if you read this 100 years later, we should recognize that in today's world, enjoying so much modern technological progress, it has long been a time of daylight savings and is therefore extremely unpopular. to the citizens of the country. Only 33% of Americans think that "DST is worth it".

Summer time has significant disadvantages. First, it does not really save energy. While the use of domestic lighting decreases during the day, the use of air conditioning and other electronic devices increases, resulting in a general increase in energy consumption of the household. Research indicates that on average, the late hour contributed to the conservation of only 0.34% of energy consumption. Since this policy clearly no longer achieves its goal of saving energy, is it wise to continue it?

Not only does it not reach its original energy saving goal, but research has shown that it causes health problems. According to the researchers, the risk of heart attack increases by 10% in the days following spring, which is probably due to sleep deprivation and the interruption of biological rhythms. Studies also indicate that we are less productive, more likely to get sick and simply exhausted in the days following the change of time.

Some people mistakenly believe that farmers in our country are supporting the economy of daylight saving time so that they can finish their harvest more easily. In fact, farmers actively fought the Daylight Saving Time proposal when it was introduced. For some reason, this misconception about farmers' support for time change persists.

On the basis of all this data, it is difficult to find the reason why the summer time strategy continues. Perhaps it is because some interest groups seem to be the only ones to benefit from it. In 2005, Congress pbaded the Energy Act of 2005, which extended the duration of the summer time from an additional week to the fall, largely part thanks to the efforts made by candy producers to allow Halloween to have more hours of clarity. This is not a good reason to continue this outdated practice.

In a world without summer time, we could all enjoy extra time outside by participating in leisure activities. We could maintain our sleep schedules and feel healthier and happier. We could put an end to a senseless practice that has many drawbacks and very little or no positive aspect.

That is why we plan to introduce the Texas Loves Sunshine Act of 2019 at the next legislative session. Our legislation aims to maintain the standard Texas time, allowing Texans to forgo the tedious process of adjusting to a new time twice a year.

Doing something just because it has always been done this way is not a reason to continue. Let us underline the centenary of this obsolete policy by finally putting an end to it!

Larson, R-San Antonio, is a member of the Texas House of Representatives. You can contact him at [email protected] or @RepLyleLarson.