Moments of Permanence - Oh, give me a break

From: delfinnium Date: May 17th, 2009 03:21 am (UTC) (Link)

What IS the point of DST other than confusing people? I grew up in a tropical country, and when I first encountered DST in NZ I was confused as all hell. And then got more confused when I went to the Northern Hemisphere.

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From: sami Date: May 17th, 2009 03:30 am (UTC) (Link)

It gives people more daylight in the evenings, is the theory, I believe. In extremely northern countries, it does have a use - more available use of sunlight means people can make use of the evening sun, and get more sunlight (which has health benefits)... some studies have shown that it even reduces energy consumption.

In those countries.

The only study done here, however, showed it increased energy consumption, because people were coming home in the full heat of the afternoon and using their air conditioners more. We don't have a shortage of sunlight here.

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From: delfinnium Date: May 17th, 2009 03:32 am (UTC) (Link)

becuaes Australia isn't too low in the latitude right? If I remembere correctly, it's NZ that's much lower in latitude than Aussie.

if the country isn't far off the equator then there shouldn't BE a DST. God knows that DST drives me crazy and I know that there is SOME use to it in Ohio.

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From: smillaraaq.livejournal.com Date: May 17th, 2009 01:49 pm (UTC) (Link)

Yep, same thing has happened in several U.S. studies -- energy savings caused by less use of lighting gets cancelled out or even exceeded by increased demand for A/C. And of course that doesn't take into account any of the less-easy-to-quantify human costs of sleep disruption. (I'm very sensitive to light levels and have sleep issues at the best of times, so this bothers me a lot and makes for an extremely difficult adjustment.) DST can be useful for folks in higher latitudes, but in places where there's not such a huge seasonal difference in daylight length it's pretty pointless.

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From: trouble Date: May 17th, 2009 06:52 am (UTC) (Link)

I live in Canada (and grew up in northern Canada) and I think DST is wonderful and beautiful and awesome here. By the end of December, even with the "extra hour" of afternoon, it's dark by 5 p.m. I used to go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, and it was depressing.

When I lived in Australia, I saw no point to DST. Sami's totally right about the abundance of sunlight.

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From: delfinnium Date: May 17th, 2009 06:54 am (UTC) (Link)

well I grew up in a place that had 12 hours dark and light all year round, so I get confused easily. >.>

Still get confused by the sun setting at 9pm in Ohio, actually, because t doesn't feel right.

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From: trouble Date: May 17th, 2009 06:56 am (UTC) (Link)

To me, 12 hours of light/dark sounds so awesome, but I have no idea. ;)

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From: delfinnium Date: May 17th, 2009 06:58 am (UTC) (Link)

Tropics for the win! >.>

(Which makes me go, I wanna go hooooooommmmmeeee. And also, where are the books set in tropics? T_T Why do people keep going on and on about long evenings? Singapore's dusks last... oh, maybe half an hour at most. Actually, less.)

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From: nicki Date: May 17th, 2009 03:47 am (UTC) (Link)

*dropping note, informing you of subscription* We've been semi-orbiting around some of the same journals (and I thought your story about the peacocks was fun).

(and now to be on topic) I love DST, but I'm in the US, so the latitude is different. Also, I am not a morning person and I get seasonal affect disorder, so extra evening sun is A+ IMO.

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From: trouble Date: May 17th, 2009 06:50 am (UTC) (Link)

Sami is awesome.

Nicki is also awesome.

This is my Public Service Announcement. :)

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From: nicki Date: May 17th, 2009 07:02 am (UTC) (Link)

Trouble is also awesome. *basks in the awesomenity*

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