TIMES RECORD • October 5, 2026
Daylight saving time comes from the era of incandescent bulbs: Shift the clock so people are awake during more daylight, and they’ll use less energy to see by. Congress adopted it in 1918 to conserve fuel for World War I and extended it into November in 2007. The evidence for savings is thin. The U.S. Department of Energy found the 2007 extension saved just 0.03% of the nation’s yearly electricity. DOE estimates you can save up to 10% a year on heating and cooling by turning your thermostat back 7-10 F for eight hours a day. The catch: more than two-thirds of EIA survey households with a programmable thermostat never programmed it. ~ Fred Horch and Peggy Siegle, Sustainable Practice