Plan Would Save More Daylight

Solar Solution?

Later Sunlight Means Less Oil Use, 2 Legislators Say

April 13, 2005|By Darryl E. Owens and Aline Mendelsohn, Sentinel Staff Writers

If you're still yawning and nodding off because you can't adjust to springing forward an hour, wake up and guzzle the coffee.

There's a real possibility you'll be springing forward a month earlier and staying sprung a month later.

If Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Edward Markey, D-Mass., have their way, daylight-saving time will last two months longer to conserve energy. It saved an estimated 10,000 barrels of oil a day in 1974 and 1975.

Deja vu all over again?

The two co-sponsors of the measure to extend daylight-saving time say their idea also would reduce traffic accidents, lower crime and provide more time for outdoor activities.

Yup, deja vu all over again.

Established in the United States during World War I to conserve energy, daylight-saving time has always faced opposition, primarily from parents who don't want their children walking to school -- or waiting for buses -- in the dark, and from farmers.

In fact, during the oil embargo three decades ago, President Nixon extended daylight-saving time in 1974 and 1975. But it didn't last because farming states objected.

Some of that sentiment remains.

"I hate it [daylight-saving time]," said Billy Kempfer, 58, a cattle farmer in Melbourne. He depends on light to work on his farm.

"You can't do so much till you can see," Kempfer said.

Not only that, he said, but, "Your body gets accustomed to staying up, and you can't go to bed when it's time."

Not all farmers rue the daylight-saving idea, though.

Nick Faryna, 55, reckons extending it could juice up productivity for his Umatilla citrus farm.

"We gear our working hours to the sun," Faryna said. "The longer the day is, the more opportunity we have to get more stuff done."

And that applies to playing as well as planting.

Sheri Woodruff, a clerk at the Lake County Judicial Center, welcomes any extra time her 5- and 10-year-old boys can spend outside burning off their bottled-up energy.

Her kids are driven to school, so the hazards of the dark early mornings at the other end of those longer days aren't an issue for her.

Mick Harris, head football coach and assistant athletic director at Seminole High School in Sanford, sees the upside and the downside of more daylight-saving time.

Most sports practices are after school, so teams could benefit from extra daylight. And most schools don't have lighted practice facilities, Harris said.

But as it is, Seminole students often arrive to school in the dark, with classes that start shortly after 7 a.m. And the danger of mixing children, darkness and traffic are well-known.

In October, Dianna Lugo and Amanda Bigelow were struck by a motorist who didn't see them in the pre-dawn darkness as they tried to catch a Lynx bus to get to Parkway Middle School in Osceola County. The children survived their injuries.

If daylight-saving time were extended, sunrise in Orlando would be about 8 a.m. in late November, said Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.

That's not a good idea, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

"The children we see are struck in the dark hours," said Trooper Kim Miller, an FHP spokeswoman. "For what we're seeing in Central Florida, it would be more beneficial to have daylight in the morning than in the afternoon."


The Upton-Markey bill was approved by voice vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 6.

Although the bill's ultimate fate is unclear, there are Central Florida voices raised in favor of it, despite the drawbacks.

As a stay-at-home mother, Shawna Geluso sees her husband, Adam, reaping benefits from more daylight. When it's time to spring forward, Adam, a salesman, can get home at 6 p.m., enjoy a stroll with Shawna and their children, Magen, 3, and Anthony, 1, and help create sidewalk chalk masterpieces before the sun sets.

"I personally like daylight savings," said Geluso, 33, of Longwood.

Diana Dombrowski, 14, enjoys reading outside in the evening, so two more months of daylight-saving time is fine by her.

But she doesn't see how the extra daylight would conserve energy.

"It's not as though I'm going to shut off my air conditioning because of it," Diana said.

Sure, she's only 14, but she may have a point.

Reducing oil consumption by thousands of barrels a day is all very noble, but Americans consume 20 million barrels a day.

Deja vu all over again.

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