The Express-Times Uses RESCUECOM Quote in Daylight Savings Time Article

Energy savings worth earlier switch to daylight-saving time, local economist says.

Daylight-saving time will cost you an hour of sleep this weekend -- it starts Sunday, three weeks earlier than usual -- but there are worse things than missed shut-eye.

Dairy cows on Beth Klein's Forks Township farm tend to be a little "cranky" in the days after a time change.

They adjust quickly, but Klein imagines their initial discomfort is comparable to that of someone forced to put off a much-needed bathroom break.

Being an Indiana resident when daylight-saving time kicks in can be tough, too, according to Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com.

Some counties in the Hoosier State -- technically part of the Eastern time zone -- run on Central Standard Time, he said.

"It'll never be easy for citizens because the state is divided," said Brain, a former computer science professor whose Web site is devoted to precisely what its name implies.

"There've actually been economic studies that show businesses are reticent to locate in Indiana because nobody knows what time it is."

First suggested during Benjamin Franklin's time, daylight-saving time didn't debut in the United States until World War I, when conserving rationed goods, like lamp oil, was of paramount concern, he said.

Energy conservation remains the chief reason for the biannual adjustment, said Kamran Afshar, a Bethlehem-based economist who tracks regional trends.

The hope is that 21 more days of time saved will generate that much more money saved, he said.

"That may be only a few pennies saved per day, but when you consider how many households there are in the United States, that becomes a very big number," Afshar explained.

David A. Milman, CEO of the national computer repair company Rescuecom, said relying on an old operating system to keep you on schedule is another pitfall during daylight-saving time.

"Computers are programmed to believe daylight savings happens the old way. That's where the problems come into play," he said.

Newer systems, like Windows 2000, XP and Vista, are either prepared for the daylight-saving time change or can be made so easily with a download, Milman said.

"If you're running (Windows) 95 or 98, you're out of luck. In three weeks, it's going to change the time for you" even if you've already fixed the time manually, he said.

Reporter Precious Petty can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by e-mail at ppetty@express-times.com.