Would you rather have the sunrise at 4 am in June or 8:30 am in December? That’s the question for my area of Virginia if we never made Daylight Savings Time adjustments.
Last night, while listening to Coast to Coast AM, George Noory reported that this weekend may be the final when we will fall back from Daylight to Standard Time. Congress has nothing better to do than discuss this issue to eliminate twice-yearly time changes. George didn’t say which way they were leaning.
With Daylight Savings Time, the earliest summer dawn is around 5 am. Without Daylight Savings Time, the latest winter sunrise is around 7:30 am.
During the Arab Oil Embargo in the winter of 1974, we never changed back to Standard Time. I remember starting school in the dark. The downside was children standing at bus stops in the dark.
Very few people are awake at 4 am, thus wasting light without Daylight Time.
Two possible solutions:
Remain on Daylight Savings time year round and have the schools adjust their schedules on a weekly or monthly basis with school day start times adjusted to match sunrise. The day could start at 7:30 am in September and 9 am in December. Or, how about starting at 9 am year round? My elementary school day went from 9 am to 4 pm, with an hour for lunch at noon.
OR
Adjust clocks daily so that the sunrise is always at 7 am.
Almost all clocks are automated. My cell phone changes, my car clock changes, and the computer and DVR clocks change on their own. Even my alarm clock/radio is automated,
With AI, schedules across locations could sync with personal calendars. Google Maps could consider time shifts when calculating estimated arrival times.
The adjustment would be handled at 2 am, making that time 5 hours before dawn.
From June until December, days would be longer than 24 hours, which is great for the summer. And from December until June, days would be shorter than 24 hours.
When driving west, we would be gaining time along the way rather than waiting for the time zone change. Going east would be a drag.
Standard time zones were developed to help with train schedules. Since trains and planes run late, what is the change going to impact?
Before standard times, local times were based on the local sundial, and civilization survived.