Throwing off our Bilogical clocks

The link below provides more evidence that suggests that Daylight Saving Time is unhealthy.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/daylight-saving-time-may-throw-off-our-internal-clocks/19397056

What would it look like where you live?

The US Naval Observatory provides a site where you can generate a table of the sunrises and sunsets of every day of the year for any town in the U. S. Take look at your town and decide whether you would prefer daylight time or standard time year round. Keep in mind that it gets dark roughly 1/2 hour after sunset and gets twilight roughly 1/2 hour before sunrise. All times are reported in standard time so just add an hour to consider a daylight time scenario.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

Pick a time and stick with it

In the interest of energy conservation the government feels it would be best for us to observe daylight saving time nearly 8 months out of the year, leaving only four months during which standard time is observed. This requires us to adjust our clocks (biological included) twice a year. This causes many inconveniences, such as losing an hour of sleep every spring, adjusting to an earlier wake up time, and getting children to go to bed earlier. The last inconvenience carries on throughout the summer when the kids have to go to bed before sundown in some regions.

There are more than minor inconveniences associated with the biannual time change. Stanley Coren of the University of British Columbia has revealed that from 1986 to 1995 the number of car accidents in the U.S. were up 7% on the Monday following the annual spring time change to DST. Coren also reports a 6.6% increase in non-vehicle related accidental deaths for the 4 days following the time change. His findings suggest that such significant increases are the result of sleep deprivation due to the change in sleep patterns brought on by DST. A practice that causes such a public health risk should not continue. Tell the government to pick a time and stick with it.

Click on this link to see the trouble DST is causing.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mine-injuries-rise-right-after-dayl-10-03-12

Does Day Light Saving Time save energy?

Natural experiments in Indiana showed that energy consumption increased when some counties made the transition to DST. The Department of Energy reported that as a nation we used less than 0.5% less energy in 2007 compared to 2006. However, the Indiana study explains that the only effective energy savings occurs in the early spring which is most of the difference between the DST periods of the two years compared in the DoE report. It is important to note that the Indiana study points out that this energy savings experienced in the early spring is offset by an increase in usage throughout the remainder of the DST period, most likely due to an increased use of air conditioning and heating. http://climateprogress.org/2010/03/13/daylight-saving-time-energy-dst/
The link to this study can be accessed below. http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~kotchen/links/DSTpaper.pdf

Time zone Theory and DST

Many people do not like Daylight Saving Time because it results in late sunrises. This can be more dangerous for people driving to work early in the morning and for children walking to school in the morning. On the other hand, some people like Daylight Saving Time because it provides more leisure time during daylight hours due to later sunsets. Many of these opinions are dictated by geography. Those living in the eastern regions of their time zones prefer Daylight Saving Time and its later sunsets because they are the first to see the sun rise and set in their time zone Those living in the western regions of their time zones dislike daylight saving time and its later sunrises because they are the last to see the sun rise and set in their time zone. Currently, time zones are centered around a governing meridian with boundaries drawn somewhat arbitrarily between the governing meridian and the governing meridians of the time zones to the east and to the west. A governing meridian is simply the meridian that the sun crosses when the clocks of the respective time zone say 12 noon. When we move our clocks ahead for DST, the time zone essentially becomes governed by the meridian in the center the time zone to the east. Those in the western portions of the their time zones have particularly later sunrises and sunsets when observing DST. For this reason Arizona does not observe DST.

Modern Standard Daylight Time: An Overdue Solution

As a nation, we prefer to keep our clocks ahead of the sun rather than behind it. The westward asymetry of our timezones and the extended use of daylight saving time is evidence of this. If we think its later than it really is, then getting up early is apparently easier. Some may even propose going to year round DST to avoid the hassle of changing our clocks twice a year. However, this would result in western regions such as Utah, Texas, and Indiana having extremely late sunrises in the winter, which can be a hazard, especially for children going to school on those winter mornings. A better solution would be to adjust the time zone boundaries such that the governing meridians become the eastern boundaries of their respective time zones rather than located in the center of them. When the sun crosses into a timezone, it would be noon, when it crosses out, it would be 1pm. This would standardize the time so that the clock is always ahead of the sun, but not more than about an hour, providing for relatively later afternoon daylight without extremely late sunrises. There would no longer be a need to change to DST. This would maximize human activity during daylight hours without having to ever change our clocks. In order to avoid interference with commerce and transportation, the states through which the governing meridians pass could propose how the timezone boundaries should pass through their state. The people of these states should have the right to determine what time it will be throughout their state. The department of transportation (which has regulated time zone boundaries in the past) could then determine the boundaries based on the states' proposals in order to avoid interference with commerce and transportation throughout the nation. Some changes may affect neighboring states in order to keep metropolitan areas all on the same time. The changes may seem strange to some at first, but they will be easier to get used to than changing our clocks twice a year. This new and much more appropriate time keeping system could be called Modern Standard Daylight Time. Modern because it is more appropriate for our modern lifestyle. The time zone boundaries were established in 1883 by the railroads and have changed very little since. Daylight time was introduced as a poor temporary remedy for the outdated time zones as our lifestyle changed in the 20th century. Standard because it will be the same year round and thus be the standard for each time zone. And daylight because the intent is to maximize human activity during daylight hours without ever changing our clocks. So please write your congressmen and women and let them know about this solution that will stop the 40+ years of changing our clocks back and forth.

The first map shows what the time zone boundaries would look like if all the states through which the governing meridians pass chose to have the entirety of their state stay in their current time zone, maintaining current standard time year round.
The second shows what they would look like if all of them chose to have the entirety of their state join the time zone to the east, maintaining current daylight time year round.
Chances are that many of these states will choose to have the boundaries run through less populated portions of their states, allowing the communities within their boundaries to join the most appropriate timezone based on their location. The third map shows one possible scenario. If you have any ideas or comments, please post them.