There is no extra hour of sunlight. That stays the same.

All this does is shift energy use to the morning when it is still dark and people are getting ready for school and work. Plus, people are more likely to leave something on when they are running out the door half awake because some idiot politician "solved" a problem with some symbolic crap that doesn't do anything.

Plus there is the lost productivity of people who's sleep patterns are disrupted, accidents, children going to school in the dark, etc.

In fact, Daylight Savings Time increasesenergy use, which totally defeats the reason for it to exist. Another victory for the brains in Congress who are causing $1.7 Billion to be wasted.

It is time we eliminate Daylight Savings Time once and for all since it costs too much money, and is just more govenmental newspeak.

What do any of the listed tips have to do with DST? What exactly does changing my lightbulbs to fluorescent have to do with DST? Mine are already fluorescent. All DST does is throw people off like N. RobertMoses points out.

The question with CFLs is fairly simple: do you like the light they put out? If you answer no to that question, it's probably worth the $1 a day in electricity you'll be spending to light your incandescent bulbs. There are plenty of other ways to save money that won't so severely impact your comfort in your own home.

There seems to be a great range of light that comes from CFLs that varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. Has anyone done comparative tests?

I'd like to join the bandwagon of "cancel daylight savings time". It's a hassle and it's stupid. Changing the time on a clock does not add or subtract any daylight from the day.

If there really are people who need their daylight earlier or later, they should change their schedule accordingly, not their clock.

If anyone has any good reason why we observe daylight savings time, I'd love to hear it.

@squablow: It was invented by the beloved Ben Franklin in a different age when artificial lighting was expensive and a hassle. People went to sleep at dark back then.

It is obsolete and "Spring Ahead" is the worst day (and technically the shortest) of the year.

@sir_eccles: Well, Consumer Reports has, for one. I like the N:Vision lights from Home Depot--whichever I've been getting (I think it's the "Soft Light" ones), they're definitely among the warmest-toned of the fluorescents I've tried. They're not the fastest warmups, but they're still pretty speedy (save the occasional dud).

It's kind of a question of what you want from the bulb, too.

there are a few states such as arizona that do not subscribe to the craziness, they save that for their sheriff.

I miss living in Japan, where there was no DST. It was also convenient that everyone was in the same time zone.

@sleze69: That's a myth. Franklin certainly believed in rising early, but he had nothing to do with DST, which started during World War 1

I don't mind DST. I like that I can do more things in the evening and still have some daylight left.

I just wish we would roll back to the previous DST schedule, pre-GWB era. Studies have shown that the energy savings from new extended DST were marginal. In other words, not worth it.

@Pal: Same! I lived in Japan, too, and I found their system very practical. I actually kinda like the seasonal shift of darkness and light.

@floraposte: Well Consumer Reports being a pay site aside. All I really need is a table that lists all the different brands, the claimed color temp and a column that say comments on the perceived color along the lines of "slight green tinge" or something.

Or bottom line, what brand is closest to a normal incandescent 60w pearl?

@sleze69: Actually, no it was done at the behest of various chambers of commerce through good old fashioned lobbying and misinformation.

I wish they would just drop the DST and let companies shift to a summer schedule if they wish to for their business hours.

Sam's club just started selling LED fitted light bulbs. We bought some and they supposedly save far more than CFL's do and last longer. We have yet to try them out to see what the light is like.

I got CFL's all around the house, there's not a single incandescent one around the house(that I know of) and I like the light they put out. It's a heck of a better than the Artificial Sun that the Incandescent ones do when they're turned on.

@LatherRinseRepeat: But you are forgetting that it was symbolic. Hey look we are the government and we are doing something. It is like a politician spending $4 million to needlessly rename a bridge after some dead party hack, then cries poor mouth and financial responsibility.

People can change their schedule? That's a good one! Guess some people aren't trapped in the rat race.

My friend is at work by 7AM, but he is one of those who I consider crazy anyhow. At least he can walk to his job, unlike the crazier ones that commute 1hr+ to get to work early. Usually to beat the crowd. A crowd that grows as everyone else wants to beat the crowd... a crowd that won't exist some day soon at the time we think of the morning commute now. That could affect DST even more!

Here is what I always try to remember: I noticed a decade ago during summer break from college that when I went jogging early in the morning (as in my not having gotten to bed yet!) that the sun was blazin' by 5:35AM-5:40AM!!! If we DIDN'T spring ahead by moving the clocks up an hour, then it would be WAY too sunny at 4:30AM! And those nice long summer days would reach darkness sooner.

I have some CFL's that I got free after rebate or coupon or something a while back, and I've been putting them in some fixtures where it doesn't really matter - I don't notice a huge change in light, although it is a pain waiting for them to warm up.

The problem is I have some light fixtures where they won't work - I've got a couple lamps/lights with dimmers around the house, and a motion-activated porch light. Regular CFL's don't work with dimmers, and a light that takes a minute to go on to full light defeats the point of a motion-activated light. I know they make specialty lights for dimmers, but I'm guessing the cost would outweigh the energy savings.

Plus, I broke one once while putting it in, and spent the next couple weeks worried that either I or my cat was going to die of mercury poisoning, or at least become retarded.

Last I checked buying batteries, automobile lightbulbs, aligning them, changing all your lights, costs a bunch of money. I normally refrain from being an antagonist on here, but if I were to do all these things I would be spending about 500 bucks.

@sir_eccles: That table you describe is what one pays Consumer Reports to see.

Don't forget to flip your mattress too. If you don't flip and turn your mattress every so often then it wears very unevenly. You can get years more out of it if you flip and rotate it every 6 months (or when the time changes like I do)

Doesn't the fee they charge to take the hazardous waste on CFls cancel out the savings?

The direct reply thingy isn't working for me. So, Badgeman: We switched our bulbs to CFL one at a time. If an old incandescent burned out in a light we use all the time, we'd replace it with a CFL.

OCDetails: I just found out that you should regularly vacuum your mattress, too! I never would've thought to vacuum a mattress.

If the government just ordered everyone to get up an hour earlier without changing their clocks people would scream foul!! However, if the clock tells everyone to get up at the same time (although you are really getting up an hour earlier because you moved the clock hands) people dutifully obey. We are trained to live by the clock.

@squablow: As a smallish airline with only 29 aircraft, it costs us nearly $500,000 in schedule disruptions etc etc.

For the overall US Airline industry, the costs are staggering...over $84 million each switch! The biggest problems arise from international flights, and those to states like AZ and IN.

@bohemian: You'll be very, very happy that they have a flexible return policy. I'm sorry, but LED bulbs are WORTHLESS! The 40w "equivilant" barely output any light at all...and it's ultra cold/harsh/white. It's very, very directional, and the bulbs are, of course, expensive.

Even Cadillac admitted that the LED lights that they spent about $10 million to develop aren't any more energy efficient...

@LLH:

Speaking of whom, Sir Charles Barkley is visiting the sheriff for the next 3 days.

Fark DST.

@savdavid: I would not get up earlier but my boss may have some negative feelings if I started showing up to work an hour late.

@LLH: Ever since Indiana switched to DST a couple years ago, Arizona is now the only state that has avoided that craziness. I miss the days before DST.

@N.RobertMoses: So is there no summer/winter solstice and vernal/autumnal equinox also? B/c you know the Summer solstice is the day of the year with the most amount of sunlight and the winter is the one with the least? Or is the whole axis of the Earth and our trip around the sun a fabrication of the "Government"?

@OMAC: Well, most fire dept's and fire prevention officers recommend changing the batteries in your smoke and CO detectors every six months. Since you need to go around and change clocks, why not use it as a time to change batteries as well? Most people do things on "special" days. Like taking down your Christmas lights/putting out your tree the first Saturday after New Years. Or cleaning the house in the spring, etc...

@Corporate-Shill: Did you mean "Frak"?

@badgeman46: Home Depot and many other stores take them for free. Hard to cancel out a charge of "$0.00". Even my local county takes CFL from residents for free.

@badgeman46: And how much would the accident your lights being out and someone hitting you, the deer/child/trash can you didn't see in time b/c your lights were aimed to low, and the smoke damage to your house cost?

You know, those NFL players could have been saved if they had invested $10.00 for a water proof Coast Guard approved strobe light and/or ~$150.00 for an EPIRB. But they didn't and saved that ~$200.00. Who's laughing now!

@madanthony: Let's be honest. All cats are retarded in some way. Hell, I swear my queen drank antifreeze the day my one's brain was forming. He is the STUPIDEST cat I have ever seen. Food bowl is in the same place it has been for at least the past six months in the room I have always fed him in. Still, everyday he runs right past it and wanders around for about 15 seconds before he suddenly "discovers" it, and runs to it. Dumb.

@squablow: Because an hour of light in the evening is a lot more useful. I can cut my grass in the evening, but I can't go out and cut it at 6 a.m. without making a lot of enemies.

I'm not opposed to cutting out the switch, but if we do I'd rather stay on DST all year.

@ComcastRedwoodFlyer: I agree 100%. I bought a pack of LCD bulbs from Sam's early this week. One in the pack was a dud, but the one that did work gave off awful light. Very harsh. Anyway, they got returned.

I'll stick with CFL's for now.

@sir_eccles: Popular Mechanics did a test awhile back, and found Home Depots bulbs to be the best. For what it's worth, I use their bulbs. If they burn out before the date they should on the warranty on the box, you call the 800# on the bulb, and read off the code, and if it's before the "time", they send you out new bulbs for free. Add that to HD also taking the bulbs back for free, and they literally do pay for themselves. I know that my local Hazardous Waste Recycling center takes the for free also, but my center requires you to make an appointment, so it's easier to take my bulbs there, and my batteries+everything else to the center every 2 years or so.

@BPA-Free_GitEmSteveDave: No.
I was talking about on a daily basis. We get the same amount of sun regardless of what time the clock says. It is like you have two pizzas, but you cut them differently so you get 6 slices on one and 8 slices on the other. You still get the same amount of pizza.

@Corporate-Shill: Perhaps you meant, "Frick"?

@BPA-Free_GitEmSteveDave: I am just saying the title on here is daylight savings=save money and the tips have nothing to do with anything. I am just a tad perplexed. Ironically I did have my headlights unfogged this week for 100 bucks.

Adjust Your Thermostats: Taking advantage of the extra sunlight can shave up to 20% off your heating and cooling costs.

Huh?

I don't know about you, but if I keep my thermostat set at 68, just because there's more sunlight and warmth outside, I don't go changing my thermostat setting down to 64. Makes no sense. The thermostat will continue to do what it was designed to do, and reduce the amount of heat the furnace needs to produce based on any gain in heat from other sources (e.g. sunlight) accordingly.

"Hooray, it's more sunny out now, time to be colder inside the house!"

@N.RobertMoses: Frak is a term from the BSG series. It is the equivalent to our "F-word"

People!

It is Daylight Saving Time.

No "s."

[aa.usno.navy.mil]

Please continue your rants.

@Shivved: I swapped all my bulbs to CFL's and then was literally incapacitated with migraines. It wasn't until a friend suggested it was the bulbs. Sure enough I swapped them back out and the migraines stopped. I can't use them. So yea, for me the extra money is worth it but then again I don't light up my house like a beacon every night.

@dcm684: Um, no. We in Hawaii have never done that crap. I dunno about Alaska.

But to tell the truth, I guess neither of us need it, either. We're always sunny and they're, well, too close to the pole for an hour to make a difference.

Ugh. I once worked a job where one of our customers wanted to put "CST" on after their hours listed on their printed materials and website. So on everything it said "Open 9am to 5pm CST" or something like that. I tried explaining to them that during Daylight Saving Time it would be "CDT" (Central Daylight Time) but they wouldn't listen and insisted we put CST.

So half the year their materials were wrong, and their international customers were always confused.