MARKEY & UPTON SPRING FORWARD TO OUTLINE BENEFITS OF DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME

Washington, DC - Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Fred Upton (R-MI), senior members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today held a press conference to outline the energy and cost-saving benefits the nation will see when clocks spring forward one hour this Sunday, March 11. The spring change to Daylight Saving Time (DST) comes three weeks earlier than it has in recent years due to the Upton-Markey Amendment to the 2005 Energy Bill, providing longer hours of daylight and helping consumers cut back on peak-hour electricity usage. Reps. Markey and Upton were joined by Bill Prindell, Acting Executive Director, for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), and Lowell Ungar, a Senior Policy Analyst for the Alliance to Save Energy who both cited different studies that found changing DST would not only save consumers money, but would also curb the nation’s coal and natural gas consumption, while reducing carbon emissions that lead to global warming.

Rep. Markey, “The change in the beginning of Daylight Saving Time is just one step towards making our country more efficient in its usage of energy and conscious of our environment.  Not only will Americans have more daylight at their disposal for four additional weeks in the year, but we will also see wide energy saving, less crime, fewer traffic fatalities, more recreation time and increased economic activity. Ultimately, day light saving just brings a smile to everybody’s faces.”
An analysis of the Upton-Markey Amendment by the ACEEE found that by 2020, the change would cumulatively:

    - save consumers over $4.4 billion,
    - eliminate the need to build more than 3 medium-seized (300 megawatt) coal-fired power plants,
    - reduce natural gas consumption by 279 billion cubic feet
    - And prevent 10.8 million metric tons of the carbon emissions that lead to global warming. 

Rep. Markey continued, “These savings come about because people consume less electricity in the evening if it's still light, and that cuts electricity use during peak demand in the early evening hours. It almost seems too good to be true that we could realize such benefits from such a small change. But it really works. Beyond just energy conservation, research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that extending daylight saving time could help prevent pedestrian deaths and injuries, because adding an hour of light the afternoon increases the visibility of both vehicles and pedestrians.”

“While each step made to address our nation’s energy concerns may not seem like much, together these initiatives add up to provide huge cumulative savings. Extending Daylight Saving Time will help reduce our energy consumption and curb greenhouse gas emissions --- and do it all with the added benefit of putting a spring in our step and a smile on our faces.  The birds have already started singing – it’s time for the rest of us to join the chorus,” Rep. Markey concluded.

Rep. Markey also praised members of the Information-Technology (IT) community who are working to ease the initial transition period by programming various software “patches” that can be downloaded onto computers with varying operating systems and mobile devices, so internal clocks can adjust to the change.

A copy of Congressman Markey’s prepared statement follows below:

I couldn't be happier to be here today to shed some light on the energy and cost-saving benefits of Daylight Saving Time that we will begin to see three weeks earlier this year when the clocks spring forward this Sunday, March 11. I am joined by Congressman Fred Upton of Michigan, co-author of the Upton-Markey Daylight Saving Time amendment to the 2005 Energy Bill that added four weeks of Daylight Saving Time to the calendar every year. Also joining us are Lowell Unger, senior policy analyst at the Alliance to Save Energy and Bill Prindell, acting executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

Our amendment springs the start of Daylight Saving Time forward by three weeks each year and extends it a week in the fall. Adding a little more sunshine to each day for four weeks every year will conserve energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve traffic safety, and decrease crime.  The arrival of Daylight Saving Time also heralds the arrival spring. 

The amendment Congressman Upton and I added to 2005 energy bill was first introduced to save energy. While it may seem like a little more sun may not lead to a lot less energy consumption, it turns out that the energy savings really add up over time. An analysis of the energy benefits of the change in Daylight Saving Time by the ACEEE found that by 2020, the change would:
- save consumers over $4.4 billion,
- eliminate the need to build more than 3 medium-seized (300 megawatt) coal-fired power plants,
- reduce natural gas consumption by 279 billion cubic feet
- and prevent 10.8 million metric tons of the carbon emissions that lead to global warming. 

These savings come about because people consume less electricity in the evening if it's still light, and that cuts electricity use during peak demand in the early evening hours. It almost seems too good to be true that we could realize such benefits from such a small change. But it really works.
In addition to the energy savings, our amendment will also help to improve traffic safety.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, extending Daylight Saving Time will help prevent traffic fatalities by providing increased visibility in the afternoon and evening.
Let me also praise this morning all the IT and technology people who are working to ease this initial transition so that the United States will not have to build 3 additional large electric plants which probably would be burning coal and worsening the global warming crisis. Much of the CO2 emitted each day comes from power plants that provide the electricity that keeps our computers, our blackberries, our TVs running.

Here is a chance for the tech community to play a key role in reducing the need for 3 new plants to power these devices, and they are stepping up to the challenge.  “Greentech” is good tech, and this is a big opportunity for the Greentech community to make a sizeable contribution to a cleaner world.

Some people have said that this change in Daylight Saving Time will be like a mini version of the Y2K problem. I believe those people are right – just as, after all the hype,   Y2K turned out to be a “non-problem,”  Daylight Saving Time is likely to end up being a “mini-non-problem.”  The reason for that is that the technology community has been busy making the software changes needed to ensure that clocks move to the right time this weekend.

The change in the beginning of Daylight Saving time is just one step towards making our country more efficient in its usage of energy.  Obviously, there are others that we can and should be taking.  While each step by itself may not seem like much, together they add up to provide significant cumulative energy savings.   Extending Daylight Saving Time will help reduce our energy consumption and curb greenhouse gas emissions --- and do it all with the added benefit of putting a spring in our step and a smile on our faces.  The birds have already started singing – it’s time for the rest of us to join the chorus.

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