Spring forward fall back

Although, we are already quite a bit past "Spring forward", the question still remains, does daylight savings conserve energy? Day light savings was created by Benjamin Franklin in an effort to save  candles, and was kept later on as it was found that day light savings saved electricity. However, nowadays, with heating and new electronics, day light savings might actually increase our usage of energy as a whole. When investigating the difference between Indiana's electricity usage before and after daylight savings took full effect. We learned that in fact, with daylight savings, there was a 1% increase in electricity usage. Only a little right? Well 1% is actually equivalent to an extra 9 million dollars. This is because even though there is less need for lighting, there is a higher demand for temperature controlling (IE heating and cooling). However, contrary to that experiment, another one in 2007 (when daylight savings happen 3 weeks earlier). In this second experiment, there was practically no effect on the national energy usage. Additionally, research has found that there is an increased amount of heart attacks, possibly caused by the disruption of typical daily patterns such as sleep patterns. Overall, there are multiple theories about whether daylight savings is "good" or "bad", and we don't yet know the answer. So, what do you think? 

For more information (includes other research results), check out http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-daylight-saving-times-save-energy/?page=

Next week: More about Keystone, also possibly a crossword