Persuasive Essay On Daylight Savings Time

Daylight savings time is accepted in everyday life and most do not think twice about it. Daylight savings time was first adopted in the United States in World War I. It was used as an effort to save energy but was unpopular so it was removed until World War II. Some states and places in the United States do not use daylight savings like in Hawaii and Arizona. In 2005 the Energy Policy Act was signed which led to daylight savings time being used ever since. Some people think that daylight savings should still be in use and some do not. Daylight savings time should not have further use in the future because it puts the United States out of sync with other countries, has health consequences, and increases energy use.

Daylight savings time should

The main purpose of daylight savings is to conserve energy. The extensions that were added to it were for the promotion of energy conservation. Evidence from one of the sources states, “There is some evidence for an increase in electricity demand at the spring transition into daylight savings time but the real increases come in the fall when daylight savings time appears to increase consumption between 2 and 4 percent.” (Kotchen and Grant 8). This evidence determines that daylight savings causes an increase in the consumption of electricity rather than a decrease. The tradeoff for having daylight savings in fall is that it reduces the demand for lighting but increases the demand for heating and cooling. Not only is more electricity used for heating and cooling, but there are also increased pollution emissions. Evidence from one of the articles states, “We estimate a cost to Indiana households of $9 million per year in increased electricity bills. Estimates of the social costs due to increased pollution emissions range from $1.7 to $5.5 million per year.” (Kotchen and Grant 8). Not only is more electricity used but also there is more money that has to be spent. Even though daylight savings promotes the idea of energy conservation, it uses more energy. Daylight savings should not have further use because it uses more energy than it is said to

Daylight savings time is supposed to promote safety like decreased crime, the reason for this was that there was more light in the evening. Daylight savings time made some things safer and some things less safe. Evidence from one of the sources states, “The test period was controversial; it ended after complaints that the dark winter mornings endangered children traveling to school.” (CNN 3). Daylight savings makes things start an hour early or an hour later which is especially dangerous for children who have to travel in the dark. The health risks that are from daylight savings time can also contribute to this because people are more sleep deprived which might make them less likely to look for a child traveling to school in the dark. The most rational reason for daylight savings time was energy conservation. There is surprisingly little evidence that daylight savings time actually saves energy. Evidence from one of the articles states, “Our main finding is that-contrary to the policy’s intent-DST results in an overall increase in residential electricity demand. Estimates of the overall increase in consumption are approximately 1 percent and highly statistically significant.” (Kotchen and Grant 8). The evidence acknowledges that daylight savings was supposed to save energy but instead it consumes more. Although the increase is only 1 percent it is considered highly statistically significant. The