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By Cassandra Szklarski
TORONTO (CP) - An extra hour of daylight would create annoyances but not many energy-related benefits to Canada's most populous province, observers suggested Thursday after Ontario became the first to agree to follow the United States in extending daylight time.
Falling in step with our neighbours to the south would avoid scheduling chaos for cross-border finance, just-in-time deliveries, TV programming and international travel, but not bring the energy savings touted in the United States, the Conservation Council of Ontario said Thursday.
"I'm at a loss to explain the conservation benefits of this," said executive director Chris Winter.
"We're still going to be cooking the same, and our utilities, demand for electrical appliances will pretty much be the same. The difference might be in (home) lighting."
Street lighting would remain the same because outdoor lamps are set to dim and glow when the sky turns dark and light - and that doesn't change with daylight saving, Winter said.
And power use in the commercial and institutional sectors tends to be more or less constant throughout the day, adds a federal background document prepared in July for parliamentarians studying the issue.
Extending daylight time could actually cause problems - by tripping up computer applications and electronic gadgets programmed to automatically handle time based on a schedule the U.S. and Canada has kept for nearly two decades.
Computer programmers would once again have to check their software code for potential problems in handling a calendar adjustment.
"That's annoying if they're doing that," said Jim Barby, associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Waterloo.
"It's not a big deal, but it does require you to be able to figure out how to click on the right icon to pull up the adjust the time clock and change it."
He said the software industry would have to prepare updates for its programs and send them out by 2007, when daylight time will start on the second Sunday of March and will end on the first Sunday in November.
Currently, daylight time runs from the beginning of April to the end of October.
Ontario's timeshift comes after U.S. President George W. Bush signed an energy bill in August that extended daylight time by four weeks starting in 2007.
The measure is a move to save energy. The idea is that shifting an hour of daylight from early morning to evening reduces home power consumption by better matching waking time with daylight hours.
It could also cut peak electricity use by shifting some electricity consumption from the high-demand evening hours to lower-demand - and cheaper - morning hours.
But on the whole, greater energy savings would be marginal, if at all, said Winter.
"If there's an hour extra of daylight, you're going to bed an hour earlier . . . but you're going to be setting the heater to turn on when it's dark in the morning, still. So, are you saving anything?"
The federal background paper agrees, finding the plan "is unlikely to significantly alter energy consumption patterns in this country."
"Given the importance of north-south commercial ties, however, there is likely to be increasing pressure on the provinces and territories to follow the U.S. lead," concludes the report dated July 29, prepared by Frederic Beauregard-Tellier.
U.S. legislators that back the change say those extra four weeks would save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day in March and April, or one per cent of energy costs.
In announcing Ontario's decision to follow the U.S., Attorney General Michael Bryant said the measure held "the possibility for energy conservation savings," which would be examined.
New Democrat leader Howard Hampton doubted it would offer much advantage.
"There may be some benefits on the energy side, but people should not be under any mistaken impression that there will be huge benefits here," Hampton said.
"There will be some marginal benefits."
"Given the importance of north-south commercial ties, however, there is likely to be increasing pressure on the provinces and territories to follow the U.S. lead," concludes the report dated July 29, prepared by Frederic Beauregard-Tellier.
U.S. legislators that back the change say those extra four weeks would save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day in March and April, or one per cent of energy costs.
In announcing Ontario's decision to follow the U.S., Attorney General Michael Bryant said the measure held "the possibility for energy conservation savings," which would be examined.
New Democrat leader Howard Hampton doubted it would offer much advantage.
"There may be some benefits on the energy side, but people should not be under any mistaken impression that there will be huge benefits here," Hampton said.
"There will be some marginal benefits."
News from :The Canadian Press
TORONTO (CP) - An extra hour of daylight would create annoyances but not many energy-related benefits to Canada's most populous province, observers suggested Thursday after Ontario became the first to agree to follow the United States in extending daylight time.
Falling in step with our neighbours to the south would avoid scheduling chaos for cross-border finance, just-in-time deliveries, TV programming and international travel, but not bring the energy savings touted in the United States, the Conservation Council of Ontario said Thursday.
"I'm at a loss to explain the conservation benefits of this," said executive director Chris Winter.
"We're still going to be cooking the same, and our utilities, demand for electrical appliances will pretty much be the same. The difference might be in (home) lighting."
Street lighting would remain the same because outdoor lamps are set to dim and glow when the sky turns dark and light - and that doesn't change with daylight saving, Winter said.
And power use in the commercial and institutional sectors tends to be more or less constant throughout the day, adds a federal background document prepared in July for parliamentarians studying the issue.
Extending daylight time could actually cause problems - by tripping up computer applications and electronic gadgets programmed to automatically handle time based on a schedule the U.S. and Canada has kept for nearly two decades.
Computer programmers would once again have to check their software code for potential problems in handling a calendar adjustment.
"That's annoying if they're doing that," said Jim Barby, associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Waterloo.
"It's not a big deal, but it does require you to be able to figure out how to click on the right icon to pull up the adjust the time clock and change it."
He said the software industry would have to prepare updates for its programs and send them out by 2007, when daylight time will start on the second Sunday of March and will end on the first Sunday in November.
Currently, daylight time runs from the beginning of April to the end of October.
Ontario's timeshift comes after U.S. President George W. Bush signed an energy bill in August that extended daylight time by four weeks starting in 2007.
The measure is a move to save energy. The idea is that shifting an hour of daylight from early morning to evening reduces home power consumption by better matching waking time with daylight hours.
It could also cut peak electricity use by shifting some electricity consumption from the high-demand evening hours to lower-demand - and cheaper - morning hours.
But on the whole, greater energy savings would be marginal, if at all, said Winter.
"If there's an hour extra of daylight, you're going to bed an hour earlier . . . but you're going to be setting the heater to turn on when it's dark in the morning, still. So, are you saving anything?"
The federal background paper agrees, finding the plan "is unlikely to significantly alter energy consumption patterns in this country."
"Given the importance of north-south commercial ties, however, there is likely to be increasing pressure on the provinces and territories to follow the U.S. lead," concludes the report dated July 29, prepared by Frederic Beauregard-Tellier.
U.S. legislators that back the change say those extra four weeks would save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day in March and April, or one per cent of energy costs.
In announcing Ontario's decision to follow the U.S., Attorney General Michael Bryant said the measure held "the possibility for energy conservation savings," which would be examined.
New Democrat leader Howard Hampton doubted it would offer much advantage.
"There may be some benefits on the energy side, but people should not be under any mistaken impression that there will be huge benefits here," Hampton said.
"There will be some marginal benefits."
"Given the importance of north-south commercial ties, however, there is likely to be increasing pressure on the provinces and territories to follow the U.S. lead," concludes the report dated July 29, prepared by Frederic Beauregard-Tellier.
U.S. legislators that back the change say those extra four weeks would save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil a day in March and April, or one per cent of energy costs.
In announcing Ontario's decision to follow the U.S., Attorney General Michael Bryant said the measure held "the possibility for energy conservation savings," which would be examined.
New Democrat leader Howard Hampton doubted it would offer much advantage.
"There may be some benefits on the energy side, but people should not be under any mistaken impression that there will be huge benefits here," Hampton said.
"There will be some marginal benefits."
News from :The Canadian Press
