Don’t Forget To Set Your Clocks Back!

This year was the first year on the new Daylight Savings schedule. For 2007, we “sprung ahead” three weeks earlier than normal, and are now going to “fall back” one week later than normal. The four extra weeks of Daylight Savings Time (DST) was supposed to save energy, and early indications are that it worked. Enmax, the local utility company here in Calgary reported that there was a 3% reduction in electricity usage simply by changing our clocks back three weeks earlier. The net result for consumers like myself is about a $1 saving on a typical monthly bill, or $12 per year. On a small scale it may not seem like much, but in the grand scheme of things the amount of savings was enough electricity to power 35,000 homes!

November 4th, 2007 is when the new DST schedule ends. Set your clocks back an hour and enjoy the extra hour of sleep you lost back in March! The official time that DST ends at is 2:00am, so set your clocks before you sleep tonight.

When I first heard of this plan, I thought all the electricity savings in the evening would be offset by the extra usage of electricity in the morning, but I guess I was wrong! This new DST schedule will be used again in 2008 and then the US Congress will decide if they will continue with it, or revert back. So, mark your calendars, we’ll be changing our clocks forward one hour again on March 9, 2008.

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