What’s the deal with daylight saving? Time change leaves some drowsy, others energized

California sprang forward one hour on March 13 at 2 a.m., when we shifted from Pacific Standard Time (PST) to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), which resulted in the loss of one hour of sleep and the disruption of our circadian cycle for many of us.

Last week, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to do away with the biannual falling back one hour in fall and springing forward one hour in spring by remaining on daylight saving time throughout the year. The bill needs to go to the House and be signed by President Biden to become law.

If we stayed on PDT year-round at our latitude, the latest sunrise would not happen until 8:12 a.m., about two weeks after the winter solstice. North in San Francisco, the sunrise would not occur until 8:27 a.m. Most parents would not be happy sending their children to school in the dark.

This may lead to the question of when daylight saving time began and how it’s changed over the decades.

The first references to it that I could find traced back to our country’s first meteorologist, Benjamin Franklin. Not only did he discover electricity, but he also served as the U.S. ambassador to France. While living in Paris, he thought about the early sunrises of summer and the energy resources, like fuel for lamps, that could be saved if people simply rose an hour earlier.

During World War II, the United States adopted daylight saving time to reduce our country’s dependence on artificial light, thereby saving other energy sources for the war effort.

Between 1942 and 1945, daylight saving time was observed year-round.

In 1966, the federal government passed the Uniform Time Act, so states all used the same dates for daylight saving time, ending the confusion from locally set rules. The federal government again put the country on year-round daylight saving time for 15 months in 1974 and 1975 to save energy during the Arab oil embargo.

Historically, states and territories have been able to exempt themselves from daylight saving time, which Hawaii and Arizona have done (although the Navajo Nation in Arizona does observe the time change).

Today, daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November.

Some people may wonder, does the time change affect our health? Studies have indicated an increased rate of accidents when we spring forward one hour during spring because of lack of sleep and the interruption of our circadian cycles. However, other studies have shown an improvement in health because of a more significant number of outdoor activities with the later sunsets.

Believe it or not, some groups advocate for extreme daylight saving. Basically, they would stay on daylight saving time throughout the year and move the clocks forward another hour during the summer to have more daylight hours for work.

What’s the impact of daylight saving on meteorology?

As far as weather forecasting is concerned, most of the atmospheric and oceanographic instrumentation stays on standard time year-round.

When you think about it, you just can’t have databases gaining one hour of data during the fall and losing one hour of data during the spring.

Also, the numerical models that meteorologists use for guidance in weather forecasting come in one hour later while on PDT.

This is because the models remain on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Zulu Time year-round, which can cause delays in sending out the weather forecast.

So, at the end of the day, some people like daylight saving time, and others don’t.

My former colleague and computer and instrumentation expert, the late great Einar Anderson, remained on standard time year-round — I love waking up with the sunrise; that’s how it was for humankind for thousands of years.

Like storytelling, we’re wired for it.

PG&E adding more clean energy resources

California and PG&E continue to set the pace as national leaders in clean energy and greenhouse gas reductions.

PG&E estimates that 50% of its customers’ electricity in 2021 came from specified eligible-renewable resources, including biopower, geothermal, small hydroelectric, solar and wind power, according to its recent Form 10-K.

Overall, 93% of its customers’ electricity came from greenhouse gas (GHG)-free resources, including renewables, nuclear and large hydroelectric power.