DST covers 2/3 of the work-year, or approximately 160 work days. So it buys us 160 hours of extra evening light. (I'm not counting weekends, because then the distinction between the hour lost of morning light and that gained of evening light is immaterial.) That means we're paying $0.01 each per hour of evening light. I'll take that deal.
In truth, I find that DST sucks for about 3 days, but after I've adjusted, I'm very glad it's there. I'm not a dairy farmer, though.
No. Standard time is (in most places) closer to solar time.
The issue is that, when political time is fixed, most people naturally develop a habit of waking up around the winter sunrise, year-round. This means that 1-3 hours of light, during the rest of the year, are "wasted".
Some anti-DST advocates have proposed making DST year-round, effectively taking the time zone that is one hour eastward. The problem is that this would put the winter sunrises into the 8:00 am hour, which people tend to like even less than a mid-afternoon sunset.
Older lady here. My little sister and I were children when Nixon instituted DST for January 1974. We stood in the Minnesota cold in complete darkness (no streetlights, often no moon) waving a flashlight at the morning school bus. We checked the flashlight each night to be sure we'd be ready the next morning. And my sister was always terrified of the dark, even with a flashlight.
That's a fine story for little-house-on-the-prairie anecdotal value, but I wouldn't wish year-round DST on anyone. Not when you're farther north. Not when the nearest ocean not blocked by mountains is the Arctic. Winter "morning" per the DST clock is just too dark and too cold.
DST covers 2/3 of the work-year, or approximately 160 work days. So it buys us 160 hours of extra evening light. (I'm not counting weekends, because then the distinction between the hour lost of morning light and that gained of evening light is immaterial.) That means we're paying $0.01 each per hour of evening light. I'll take that deal.
In truth, I find that DST sucks for about 3 days, but after I've adjusted, I'm very glad it's there. I'm not a dairy farmer, though.