Apparently, US senators are fed up with having to move the clocks back and forth an hour a couple of times a day, so on Tuesday, without warning or debate, they unanimously approved legislation to make daylight saving time permanent throughout the United States, a measure that, if approved by President Joseph Biden, will come into effect in 2023.
One of the oldest arguments in favor of daylight saving time is that it can save energy costs. However, many studies have challenged this claim.
Even in 2008, a Department of Energy report found that extended daylight saving time, signed by George W. Bush in 2005, saved about 0.5 percent in total electricity use per day.
Also that a, a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the change to daylight saving time, contrary to policy intent, increased residential electricity demand by about 1 percent, raising electricity bills in Indiana by as much as $9 million a year, and increasing polluting emissions.
It is worth noting that Hawaii and most of Arizona, as well as several U.S. territories including Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, do not observe daylight saving time.
Just in 2020, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine called for the abolition of daylight saving time, arguing that by disrupting the body's natural clock, it could cause an increased risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease, and lead to more traffic accidents.
However, not everything is said, since the bill in the House,