Audio clip
Suzanne Shelton
When Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, it lengthened daylight saving time by four weeks, starting in 2007. Lawmakers said more daylight saving time would mean less energy use.
But in the Chattanooga area, energy consumption increased in 2007. The average household used about 220 more kilowatt-hours — about $15 worth — of electricity in 2007 than in 2006, according to data provided by EPB.
Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of Shelton Group, a Knoxville-based marketing firm for energy companies that conducts an annual energy efficiency survey, said energy consumers are unlikely to change their habits.
“Just because it gets darker a little bit later doesn’t mean consumers are going to cut back the use of their (heating and air conditioning) units or use their lights differently,” she said. “They’re going to do whatever they perceive they need to do to be comfortable, and it doesn’t matter what’s going on with the sunlight outside.”
Daylight-saving time begins at 2 a.m. local time Sunday.
ENERGY USE
Gil Francis, a spokesman for TVA, said lighting is not the main factor when it comes to energy consumption.
“Energy use is driven by temperature,” he said.
According to EPB Energy Service Technician Greg Epperson, only about 10 percent of the average customer’s energy use is for lighting. About 60 percent goes toward heating and cooling homes, he said.
Mr. Francis said TVA has not conducted an official study of the effects of daylight saving time on energy use.
According to a study by University of California at Santa Barbara professor Matthew Kotchen, much of the savings on lighting during daylight saving time is erased by increased demand for air conditioning. That study looked at Indiana, a state in which only some counties observe daylight saving time.
In the Chattanooga area, average energy use increased by about 15 kilowatt-hours per household in March 2007 compared to March 2006, EPB records show.
Daylight saving time now begins the second Sunday in March. Previously, it began the first Sunday in April.
In terms of temperature, 2006 and 2007 were similar, according to Jerry Hevrdeys, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn. Each year had a warm summer and a mild winter, he said.
The summer of 2007 was about a degree warmer, he said. According to Mr. Francis, TVA hit a record summer peak in 2007 in terms of energy consumption.
A CONSERVATION AID?
U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., who voted in favor of the bill, said projections have shown that the daylight saving time changes have helped with energy conservation.
“They say that it has. They say that it will," Rep. Davis said. "I have no way to gauge it or measure it.”
U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., voted against the 2005 bill that included the four-week extension of daylight saving time.
“My votes for or against energy bills in the last few years have not been based on the changes to daylight saving time, but rather based on the question of energy supplies and new technologies to move our country toward energy independence,” he said. “The daylight saving time changes will hopefully bring some energy savings, but the numbers are not yet in on the real impact.”
Staff writer Michael Davis contributed to this story.
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