[x]Blackmoor Vituperative

Friday, 2013-03-15

U.S. economy lost $433,982,548 because of DST

Filed under: Society — bblackmoor @ 08:26

Half a billion dollars, twice a year. Not to mention the needless deaths and injuries. Stop the madness!

[…]the phenomenon known as daylight saving time can disrupt people’s lives to the point where society experiences an increase in heart attacks, workplace injuries (particularly in the mining and construction business) and more aimless web surfing that hurts overall productivity. Collectively, the sudden jolt forward costs the U.S. economy $433,982,548 in 2010, according to an analysis by research firm Chmura Economics & Analytics.

[…]

And while the whole point of losing an hour of sleep was to save energy, there’s research that suggests the practice doesn’t even confer any such benefit. One illustrative example is the unique case of Indiana, which up until a few years ago, only 15 of the state’s 92 counties observed DST. Researchers at the University of California-Santa Barbara compared the electric meter readings registered during the time period before the change to the overall usage after and found that residents ended up paying $8.6 million more than we would have if they stayed on Standard time.

(From “U.S. economy lost $433,982,548 because of daylight saving time”, SmartPlanet)