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PaperclipPerfector
7d ago
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Notes -
Not sure you realize how late sunrises are in the western edge of the Eastern time zone. It would be ~9AM in nearly all of Michigan, nearly all of Indiana, large parts of Ohio/Kentucky and western PA (Pittsburgh would get to 8:40 at worst). Even Atlanta would be after 8:30 for a few weeks in December.
Rereading your previous post I see you did say "a lot of America" and not "most," I apologize if I misrepresented what you said.
The list of cities I chose was arbitrary, but the Detroit metro is arguably of comparable scale and one of the places that would have the latest sun rises if the current time zone boundaries were to remain static.
Of the places you mentioned Michigan and Indiana are (basically) fully west of the 82.5°W meridian, which would be the natural boundary for the UTC-5/6 division based on solar noon. For Ohio major population centers Columbus and Cincinnati, and for Kentucky population centers Louisville, Lexington, & Bowling Green are also west of 82.5°W. Atlanta as well, though places south of 35°N have less of a problem with insufficient daylight.
This means they are already effectively living in daylight savings time in the winter relative to solar noon, which would be UTC-5. In the summer when they go to UTC-4 they are living in double daylight savings or something. Somewhat ironically, permanent UTC-5 seems to be what some people in Indiana prefer, they just call it Eastern time with out daylight savings time observance rather than Central time with permanent daylight savings time. Neither of which is what people in actual Eastern time or actual Central time currently observe. If the US really were to adopt year round daylight savings Indiana should almost certainly move to be part of the central time zone, which is where they were historically and by meridian. This would solve the problem for people who live in the Chicago-Gary metro having to be split of from the rest of the state. The current situation in Indiana with 11 time zones, and hundreds of previous permutations, is ridiculous and as far as I can tell only justified by trying to assert their independence from Chicago-land.
Indiana is the most egregious and should not be in Eastern time even under the current system. Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan should probably move to Central time under permanent DST. Ohio and Michigan would then have the same sunrise they have now in the winter. Tennessee and Kentucky would gain the advantage of not being split in timezone.
Pittsburgh would have a late sunrise, but not worse than those poor people who live in the upper peninsula of Michigan now. Atlanta, sure but nearly 10 hours of sunlight on the shortest day of the year isn't really that bad to begin with.
While I do prefer permanent DST to permanent standard time, I am somewhat sympathetic to people who prefer standard time. Essentially there are people who have relatively early schedules who currently commute both ways in the dark during winter. There are people who have relatively late schedules who currently have some daylight on their commute in. Under permanent DST the early people gain the sunlight on the way home, at the cost of the late people who are now the ones commuting in the dark both ways. What I have a problem with is people who post exclusively about the cost of a late sunrise without acknowledging that shifting the clock affects more than the sunrise on the winter solstice. Or that no amount of changing the clocks will actually produce more daylight or make everyone happy. Just ask the people of Indiana. Maybe we should just produce more daylight with space mirrors.
When you then population weight the effects DST vs. standard time there are clearly tradeoffs, but the net effect varies by study. The only consistent thing they find is that changing the clock twice a year produces a measurable and negative effect. Permanent DST vs permanent standard time is a tradeoff between relatively early schedule people and relatively late schedule people. Changing the clocks twice a year gives everyone (very minor) jet-lag. It's mostly an inconvenience, but at the margins results in excess deaths and economic losses.
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