No DST in Arizona due to energy considerations?

[pne]

I just read in Wikipedia that Arizona does not observe DST due "in large part … to energy conservation since the temperature in and around Phoenix and Tucson is hotter than any other large U.S. metropolitan area during the summer, resulting in more poiwer usage from air conditioning units and evaporative coolers in homes and businesses. An extra hour of sunlight while people are active would cause people to run their cooling systems longer, thereby using more energy".

Whether that's true or not, it was an interesting data point, since one of the benefits of Daylight Saving Time was to conserve energy (e.g. by requiring less electricity for illumination). By that standard, if not observing DST is what will conserve more energy, it would make sense not to observe it, by the same rationale as other locations observing it to conserve energy.

Comments

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

The stupid thing is, you know the US is increasing DST this year, right? It's starting three weeks earlier and ending two weeks later. Well, that was a bill co-sponsored by New Mexico's senators (New Mexico being the state right next to Arizona and the one whose climate most closely resembles AZ's) on the grounds (AFAICT) that if a little energy conservation is good, more is better. So I must say, I suspect one of us (AZ or NM) is completely wrong-headed over this.

[nitaq.livejournal.com]

It would save MY energy to not have DST at all. Why not have employees come in earlier instead of changing the time? I can't believe that changing all schedules can possibly be worth it.

[pthalo]

it's about weighing the extra air conditioning expenses due to the change in business hours vs the change in electric lighting usage and which is more expensive. i don't know the air conditioning situation in Germany, but here in Hungary, where most people do not have air conditioning and very few businesses have it either (except international companies likes tesco and mcdonald's), there's some savings in artificial lighting and no added air conditioning costs in most places.