[LEAPSECS] Reliability

[Brian Garrett]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Seaman" <seaman at noao.edu>
To: "Leap Second Discussion List" <leapsecs at leapsecond.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 5:30 AM
Subject: Re: [LEAPSECS] Reliability



> Tony Finch wrote:

>

>> The reason DST exists is to more closely sync our activities to

>> sunrise.

>

>

> The reason DST exists is because it has become a self-propagating

> cultural meme.

>

Gotta agree on this one.  I like long summer evenings as much as the next 
guy, but to be realistic, DST is an idea whose time has come and gone.  They 
didn't have air conditioning, massive automobile traffic, or 24/7 business 
operations back in William Willet's day.


> Your April Fool's post on risks may be the most coherent analysis I've

> read on the subject.  (Not trying to be ironic.)  In general, this

> list (sad to say - now I'm being ironic :-) represents the species'

> hoard of knowledge on certain topics.

>

> Where I grew up in the U.S. mid-Atlantic states, the most obvious

> effect of DST was to extend the usable hours of daylight for Summer

> evenings.  (Perhaps some other narrative applies at higher or lower

> latitudes?)  Since we were off school, the morning issues were

> meaningless.  And workers go to work when their bosses tell them to.

> The time they own for themselves and their families is after work.

>

> Recently, all discussions of DST are framed in turns of energy.  It

> seems like every argument for DST (saves energy for lighting in the

> mornings) is countered by some argument against (increases cooling

> costs in the evenings).  If DST were really a mechanism for managing

> our natural daylight resource, rather than a naive attempt at PR

> regarding petroleum resources, it would be applied in the Winter when

> the daylight is in shortest supply.

>

Most of us  have long suspected that this notion of DST saving energy is 
bollocks, and now we have proof:
http://www2.bren.ucsb.edu/~kotchen/links/DSTpaper.pdf  Lucky for Congress 
that this paper didn't come out until after the decision was made to extend 
DST. (Because, you know, that worked so well during the Ford 
administration...)


Brian