Daylight saving for Queensland, Australia – Please not again!

Why does  a practice that has little or no energy saving or economic benefit , but which has clear health risks and was championed by authoritarian Governments  in World War 2 continue to have widespread support in Western Countries?

 Figure1 – Early pro-DST cartoon in the USA showing the misconception that DST is pro-farmer

October each year heralds the start of summer in Australia. It is the end of the NRL and AFL seasons in Australia and occurs with such iconic events across the world as the Octoberfest in Germany, Unfortunately it also brings about the perennial call from a group of whingers, usually from local government and tourism groups on the Gold Coast, for the re-introduction of daylight saving time (DST) into Queensland,  These same people who will happily conduct business with customers as far away as  Los Angeles (18 hour time difference) find the one hour difference between Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, intolerable!  Queensland had 3 years of artificial time in 1989-91 and voted decisively against it in 1992. Western Australians most recently rejected daylight saving in 2009 after previously doing so in separate referendums in  1975, 1984 and 1992.  The Northern Territory also does not have daylight saving. Rather than being the norm across the world, only about one third of the world’s population are impacted by this. As well,  DST is under review in the USA in favour of  consistent time patterns for the whole year. In 2022, the United States Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act (Bill S-582) which would permanently activate daylight saving time, although it yet to be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The term daylight saving is a misnomer: there are no savings!  Changing the clocks does not increase or decrease the amount of daylight. This is purely a function of climatic conditions. What does change is the distribution of daylight hours among the active population, so that more of their activities are contained within daylight hours.  Within a standard working week of 9 am to 5 pm, this redistribution of daylight may have some logic, but given the current diverse and segmented nature of working hours among the population the benefits are far from universal.

A Brief History of Daylight Saving

Daylight saving as a policy was first introduced as an energy-saving device, cutting down on the use of power by having more activities take place in daylight. The energy-saving argument is commonly put forward in support  DST, but it may have originated as a joke.  In 1784, Benjamin Franklin, possibly in a satirical letter to The Journal of Paris, claimed that DST would reduce the use of candles and produce economic saving. This idea (although not for candles) was acted upon in Ontario in 1906 with a DST trial and implemented in 1916 during World War I as an energy-saving device by the Central Powers of Germany and Astria-Hungary and by some of the Allies, including Australia.  Germanic enthusiasm for DST continued during the Second World War when the Nazi party introduced the practice of changing clocks and imposed the measure on many of the countries they occupied—such as Denmark and Poland, who quickly reversed the policy after the war.

The countries that current practice DST are.

1. United States
2. Canada
3. European Union countries (although there were discussions about potential changes)
4. Australia (some states, but Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory)
5. Mexico
6. Brazil

Conversely, several countries have either never tried or later abandoned DST

1. China: China used to observe DST but discontinued it in 1991.
2. Japan: Japan abandoned DST after a brief period of observation.
3. India: India has never observed DST.
4. Most of Africa: Many countries in Africa do not observe DST.
5. Most of Asia: Many countries in Asia, apart from a few exceptions like Iran, do not observe DST.

Tiresome though it is, to consistently refute these calls for the re-introduction daylight saving it is worth running through the number of reasons why Queenslanders should never again consider daylight saving and why the other Eastern states should move to abolish it.

Supporters of DST cite the following benefits

• Energy saving
• Additional economic benefits
• Recreational and other life-style  benefits.

The first two points are heavily disputed and probably wrong, and the lifestyle effects are segmented between the perceived benefits for urban dwellers, particularly that  declining percentage of the population  that work standard 9 to 5 hours and the rural population where over 60% of the rural population in both Queensland and Western Australia voted against daylight saving.  What is not in dispute is the weight of medical opinion that finds spit time periods throughout the year pose potentially serious health dangers.

Does it really save energy ?

Like so much about DST, the evidence is mixed. Most empirical work centres on the United States. In 2006 the US state of Indiana instituted daylight saving statewide and set up a test case for empirical investigation of its impact on electricity usage.  Kotchen and Grant found that the introduction daylight time into Indiana led to a 1 percent overall rise in residential electricity use, costing the state an extra $9 million.¹  They accounted for this by arguing that the observed fall in residential electricity use was out weighted by  increased demand for cooling on summer evenings and heating in early spring and late fall mornings. This result was supported by the National Bureau of Economic Research (2013) and the US naval Observatory,² who added the proviso that energy saving in the Northern US States were offset by increased use in the Southern States. Finally, the Journal of Economic Behaviour concluded

 “ DST does little to conserve energy and may even increase energy use overall”³

For Australia, Choi, Pelen and Mosson⁴ used aggregate electricity demand data to conduct a natural  experiment on electricity use in Western Australia between 2006 and 2013, a period which included DST (2006-2009) and non-DST time periods  They  estimated results on the effect of DST on electricity demand in a difference-in-differences (DD) framework after controlling for other confounding variables. They found.

• DST is found to increase electricity demand during the late night and most of the morning, and decrease it in the early evening, with the largest percentage increase and decrease being 2.99% at 10 pm and 6.61% at 7 pm, respectively.

• The overall effect of DST on electricity demand is both statistically and practically insignificant, suggesting that the original aim of implementing DST is no longer being met.

A similar study conducted by Federation University  on the Western Australian  experience  found that the increase in the demand for cooling outweighed the gains from less lighting.

The researcher found with their modelling that when clocks are moved forward by one hour for DST, electricity consumption increases when temperatures are high, and cooling is widely used.. this increase in demand for cooling outweighs the gains from less lighting.  The authors also note that air conditioner penetration in Western Australia has increased from 35% to 65% in Australia over the study period.^v

Does it increase Economic Activity?

Commenting on DST in America, Schlanger commented, “ “There is no economic justification for daylight saving”⁵

She based this claim on the findings that the  lynchpin of DST, energy savings, are illusory. But other groups have found other issues that suggest DST has a negative impact on economies. Most research has taken place in the US. These costs include.

• Lost productivity. A 2009 study found that most Americans lose 40 minutes of sleep  in the spring when clocks change, which translates to lost productivity at work in the days that follow. By some estimates, that means a total of $434 million in losses nationally.⁶

• Increased workplace injuries during change over time  Examination of in that looked at several decades’ worth of data and found a 5.7% increase in workplace injuries on the Monday following a springtime daylight saving time switch, resulting in 68% more workdays lost.

• Impaired judgement. Studies have found a general uptick in traffic accidents during daylight saving time, as well as a 6% increase in fatal car crashes in the week after the spring clock change. Another analysis, from 2011, found a 2% decrease in SAT scores when the tests were taken after the time change. In a 2016 study, researchers determined that the sentences US judges gave defendants were 5% longer the Monday after the spring shift.

DST is beloved of the retail sector who have consistently lobbied for increased daylight saving in the US and elsewhere, in the belief that greater shopping hours in daylight will boost sales. Similarly, leisure activities, particularly in urban areas believe they will generate more business.  However, research by the JP Morgan Chase Institute does not support this 

“There is a perception that DST increases spending among those consumers who make use of the extra daylight to frequent shops and restaurants, or spend money on outdoor recreation and other activities,- our unprecedented view of spending around the beginning and end of DST does not support consumer spending claims of DST advocates.” Similarly, they found that the perceived boost in some US States following the start of DST was more than offset by a decline when DST  stops and suggest a net negative impact across the year

“When clocks roll forward in the spring, consumers in Los Angeles spend 0.9 percent more on daily credit card spending per capita. While that seems like a positive, those gains are wiped out when DST ends in November, the study found. The fall roll-back coincides with a 3.5 percent decline in per capita daily card spending among Los Angelenos, the study found. Overall, it is a net negative”.⁷

Evidence for Australia is less abundant, but the UQ Institute for Molecular found  that sleep deprivation alone cost the Queensland economy 2 percent of the country’s GDP, which they estimate is $9 billion per year net of the estimated health costs and burden on the health system⁸

Health Questions

While there remains debate over the impact of DST on energy use and economic impact, its impact on health is widely seen as negative. The UQ Institute of Microbiology has come out as strongly against daylight saving⁹.  They cite supporting research from the American society of Sleep Medicine¹⁰,  the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms¹¹ and the European Society for Sleep Research¹² The objections from these groups to DST have a common theme about interruptions to the biological timing system and sleep deprivation. The UQ researchers argue  that  the biological timing system is responsive to the natural changes in day and night as well as many biological processes such as metabolism and immune function. Disruptions to this via artificial changes to time may cause

• Inadequate sleep
• Decreased attention
• Increased metabolic and cardiovascular issues
• Mood disorder
• Shortened life span

Documented effects include that in the USA

• A 2014 study concluded that heart attacks were 25% more frequent on the Monday after the springtime change¹³
• Incidents of heart attacks, strokes, and fatal car crashes all spike around the start of DST
• Doctors see an opposite trend each fall: The day after we turn back the clocks, heart attack visits drop 21% as many people enjoy a little extra pillow time¹⁴

A major study into myocardial infarction by Sandhul, Seth and Gumm into the impacts of DST  that

‘This study identifies changes in the rate of AMI, beyond those expected by random or seasonal variation, associated with daylight savings time”¹⁵ In other words DST increases the risk of AMI

Conclusions

The Daylight-saving debate in Australia among  its supporters has taken on the characteristics of dogma. the benefits of reduced energy use, economic benefit and lifestyle improvements are regarded as self- evident.  They maintain these views despite growing evidence that none of these arguments (certainly the first two) are supported by empirical studies both in Australia and overseas.  More importantly, their exists strong medical evidence to suggest  artificial spiting of the time using DST has potentially serious health risks, including increased heart attacks, and increased motor and industrial accidents .  Early proponents of DST saw it as benefitting most, two distinct groups in the society, the young and farmers. Yet survey data show that these are the two  groups that are most opposed to DST (need reference. Downing found

“In fact, school children and their advocates have always opposed daylight saving because by moving the clocks forward we get less morning sunlight and children are out on dark streets,” he says. “The same goes for the farmers. I always thought we did it for the farmers and that I was assisting American agriculture in some way every spring. It turns out, the farmers have always hated daylight saving.”¹⁶

So why does it continue to be supported and why are Queenslanders plagued by this debate each year in October? Like most manufactured controversies, this one is maintained and magnified out of proportion by the “chattering classes”, young urban dwellers with no children, who may benefit in lifestyle by a continuance or a shift to DST at the expense of the families with children, and rural dwellers. While this group would normally be in the forefront of health concerns and would certainly  “trust the science” on climate change , they are strangely indifferent to the health warnings laid out by the scientific community concerning DST, somewhat like a “woke” politician refusing to acknowledge a point made by a conservative, even if the point is right.

In their adulation of DST, they are joined by the retail industry, who don’t seem to realise that discretionary consumer budgets are relatively fixed and any increase during DST will be reversed later in the year and the leisure industry, that are driven by similar misconceptions of overall consumer spending.¹⁷Apparently in the US, the Candy industry came out as strongly in favour of DST.¹⁸

The clear medical evidence is that a fixed time schedule throughout the year is the best environment for individual health. This can be achieved by permanent day light saving (as was recently considered in the US or a return to standard time as is the preferred position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

“We do applaud stopping the switching during the course of the year and settling on a permanent time,” said Jocelyn Cheng, a member of the AASM’s public safety committee. But, she added, “standard time, for so many scientific and circadian rationales and public health safety reasons, should really be what the permanent time is set to.” ¹⁹

In conclusion, daylight saving will not cause your curtains to fade, but it will also not save energy or bring overall economic benefits to the economy. However, considerable medical evidence suggests that it is bad for your health  

Endnotes

1. Cited in Choi, C. (2009) “Does Daylight Saving Time Conserve Energy?” The Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-daylight-saving-times-save-energy ↩︎
2. See, Choi, S., Pullen, A. and Mosson, V. (2017) “How does daylight saving effect electricity demand? An answer using aggregate data  from a natural experiment in Western Australia, Energy Economics  66, 247-260 ↩︎
3. Federation University Newsroom (2021) “Do we use less energy under daylight saving?”https://federation.edu.au/news/articles/do-we-use-less-energy-during-daylight-saving ↩︎
4. See, Choi, S, Pullen, A. and Mosson, V. (2017) “How does daylight saving effect electricity demand – An answer using aggregate data  from a natural experiment in Western Australia, Energy Economics  66, 247-260 ↩︎
5. Schrager, A. (2016) “Why America will never get rid of daylight saving”. https://qz.com/636313/why-america-will-never-get-rid-of-day-light-saving. Similarly, the New York Times (2014) examined in the” Economic Toll from Daylight Saving” and reached similar conclusions . https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/03/06/daylight-saving-time-at-what-cost/the-economic-toll-of-daylight-saving-time ↩︎
6. See Ossola, A (2021) ,”The Five Economic Effects of Daylight Saving” https://qz.com/2085899/five-economic-effects-of-daylight-saving-time ↩︎
7. Aiello, C (2017) “ When days get shorter so do consumer budgets https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/03/when-days-get-shorter-so-do-consumers-budgets-report-says.html ↩︎
8. Why are Scientists so against daylight saving https://imb.uq.edu.au/article/2023/10/why-are-scientists-so-against-daylight-savings ↩︎
9. Cited in Choi, C. (2009) “Does Daylight Saving Time Conserve Energy?” The Scientific American, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-daylight-saving-times-save-energy ↩︎
10. See, IL, D (2020) “The American Academy of Sleep Research calls for the elimination of Daylight Saving https://aasm.org/american-academy-of-sleep-medicine-calls-for-elimination-of-daylight-saving-time/ ↩︎
11. Flynn-Evans. E. and Hilditch, C (2020) “Why we should let the sun set on daylight saving” https://srbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/beach-sea-coast-water-ocean-horizon-1364695-pxhere.com_-scaled.jpg  ↩︎
12. European Society for Sleep Research (2019)  “Joint Submission to the EU Commission on Daylight Savinghttps://srbr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/beach-sea-coast-water-ocean-horizon-1364695-pxhere.com_-scaled.jpg   ↩︎
13. Observed cases tapered off later in the week suggesting that those with a predilection to heart attack may be most affected by time changes ↩︎
14. See, Walker, M (2014) “How we sleep” cited in Business Insider (2018> Daylight Saving is literally killing us- it’s time to end the switch https://www.businessinsider.com/daylight-saving-time-is-deadly-2018- ↩︎
15. Sandhal, A., Seth, M. and Gumm, H. (2013) “Daylight Saving and Myocardial Infarction, National Library of Medicine https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25332784/ ↩︎
16. See, Downing, M (2014) “Who really benefits from daylight saving?” https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/who-really-benefits-daylight-savings  ↩︎
17. See, Schlanger, Z. (2017) “Daylight Saving as we know it in America was instituted by corporate lobbies not farmers, https://qz.com/1120488/daylight-saving-time-as-americans-know-it-was-instituted-by-corporate-lobbies-not-farmers ↩︎
18. See, Downing, M. (2005) Spring Forward :The Annual Madness of Daylight-Saving Counterpoint press. ↩︎
19. Chiu, A “ “Sleep Experts say Senate has it wrong, Standard time, not daylight saving should be permanent , Washington Post March 6^th 2022 https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/03/16/daylight-saving-bill-
    or Hingston, S  “Daylight Saving Time is Stupid and Expensive and Dangerous, Let’s Just end it, Philadelphia Magazine https://www.phillymag.com/news/daylight-saving-time-stupid/ ↩︎