Here Comes the Sun: Markey Daylight Saving Time Bill Brightens Spring, Reduces Energy Use, Cuts Warming Pollution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Select Committee, 202-225-4081

Here Comes the Sun: Markey Daylight Saving Time Bill Brightens Spring

Early Spring Forward Reduces Energy Use, Cuts Warming Pollution and Curtails the Winter Doldrums

WASHINGTON (March 7, 2008) – Spring will spring earlier this year, or at least it will seem that way. Early this Sunday, most Americans will set their clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Saving Time (DST), and do it several weeks earlier than in years past, thanks to a bill authored by Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.). The earlier DST will save energy, cut global warming pollution, and give the entire country an early exit from the too-soon sunsets of a long winter.

“An hour of extra sunlight in the evening is welcome news for those of us who are ready for spring,” said Markey, Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. “Saving energy and decreasing crime help to justify this effort, and the extra evening light will make our towns, cities, front stoops and porches livelier as winter begins to wind down and we look forward to spring.”

Rep. Markey’s legislation, co-authored with Rep. Upton, is now in its second year after being enacted in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, and brings an extra hour of evening sunlight a month earlier than it would have been had before the legislative change. In nationwide polls, a majority of Americans have supported DST and the earlier application of the program from Markey’s bill.

DST produces real results in energy savings and safety. A study released last year by the RAND Corp. analyzed 28 years of vehicle crash data, finding that in the weeks after springing America’s clocks forward, there was an 8 to 11 percent drop in crashes involving pedestrians and a 6 to 10 percent drop in vehicular crashes. The energy savings associated with extending DST is estimated to be about $329 million dollars by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, avoiding the need to build more than 3 large electric power plants, consumption of 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and the production of nearly 11 million metric tons of the carbon emissions that cause global warming.

For most people, however, the real advantage of earlier DST can be found in an extra hour of light for a pick-up basketball game, a safer walk with the family dog, or having the first baseball catch of the year with the kids.

“The numbers on safety and energy savings are clear, but there are no numbers available for the happiness an earlier hour of light provides,” continued Markey. “That’s a benefit that just can’t be quantified.”

# # #

Return to Press Releases »

del.icio.us   Digg this   Reddit   Stumbleupon  

 Print This Page