Opinions on daylight saving?

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by redxm

Im sick of it already. Anyone with kids will know what a PITA it is getting them to bed. Sun is still up at 7.30PM

Speaking of the devil....thats the 5th time his got out of bed in 30 mins its driving me batty!

[Jastel]

I cant believe that I agree with Flappist on something.
But as a fellow Queenslander NOT from Brisbane I have to.

Great idea about the Winter Saving Time, make the mexicans sit in the cold and dark so we can have a BBQ and get drunk after work at the best time of the year. While we are at it lets move Xmas to July 25 as well.

As far as I can see people's opinions depend on 3 things.

Where you live
What your job is
And if you have kids

[Adamz Ghia]

You get up in the dark for a couple of extra weeks after day light savings starts then it's light early again. So in the end it's a win win for all.

I love getting home from work, packing the car up and driving to Lorne from Geelong and still having enough day light for a bbq and a swim. I couldn't give a rats behind what bother states do (although I don't get the fierce opposition to it), just never take it away from Victoria.

[cs123]

Originally Posted by Adamz Ghia

although I don't get the fierce opposition to it.

There isn't a fierce opposition to it, just "It doesn't suit us here" attitude. People get fierce when they are called backwards by people who don't understand the difference between evening twilight in Melbourne vs what is experienced in say Cairns. I spend a lot of my time in Melbourne and notice the difference when I'm back home in Brisbane

I could live with or without it here but I have also spent time in NQ and see how it wouldn't work at all for them. So I'm happy not to have it in QLD.

Winter Daylight Saving Time does have some merit thought.....

[Windsor220]

I dont mind DLS either way but some negatives.

Some people are morning people and like to go for a run, gym etc before work. Its a lot easier in normal time to do this.

In WA it stays light quite late in summer anyway. Im not going to be at the beach at 8pm. Going out on the town is uncomfortable because its still warm and your in jeans etc.

[Cooper69S]

Originally Posted by Adam Rocks

i can't stand daylight savings time...it's pointless.

Originally Posted by You Yangs

Love it, any day light before 6am is a waste wherever you live!

The thing that annoyed me the most when the issue was debated to death here in WA was that so many felt the urge to "speak for everyone" rather than just state their personal opinion.
I understand that north QLD has its own set of issues, but in northern WA, the coastline heads further east as you go north so some of the reasons that make it worse for north QLD might not apply exactly to north WA. Many were saying "it just doesn't work in WA" when at the peak of summer in Perth without DLS it's dark at 8pm, with DLS it was 9pm, which is same as Adelaide where it seems to suit people just fine so the "it doesn't work here" argument is a bit of a stretch. According to the vote on it, there was very close to 50/50 split in the end. In Perth metro the final DLS vote was a yes, but the rest of the state had enough no's to vote it down (interestingly I did hear that not one single referendum on anything has been voted up in WA and there have been quite a few - apparently change isn't popular over here).

Originally Posted by DJL351

In WA, most people are aginst DLS for the simple fact that most of the East coast use it.
"Why should WA change just for the sake of the East" they say - I couldn't give a toss what the other side of the country are doing.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the 'most' but the anti-east sentiment did come up pretty often over here. In addition to the anti-east thing there is also the 'country' vs city rivalry as well. I had to laugh to myself the number of times I heard people around here say that "city people can do what they like, us country people don't want it". In the town/city where I live (population 30000 to 100000 depending where you draw the boundary) a lot of people seem to think they're country people as though that makes them somehow different to city people, despite the fact that the lifestyle of most of them is identical to most people living in city suburbs.

my point is... its a personal thing - maybe you're a morning person who prefers the early light without DLS, or you like the extra time outside that DLS gives you in summer evenings or maybe you don't care much either way but at the end of the day it has more to do with individual preferences than any idea of it being unsuitable for a whole state. There were so many crazy reasons being presented in the media about why DLS would destroy life as we know it, I couldn't understand why people had so much trouble admitting it was just their personal choice. It was made into an us vs them battle for stupid unnecessary reasons that undoubtedly skewed the vote numbers to some extent.

[saber]

Originally Posted by F6 Concorde

I understand, it's just that the difference of one hour is blown out of proportion. You hear things like taking the kids/dog/wife for a walk and BBQ's with DLS yet without it its made out like it gets dark at 6pm versus 9pm with DLS.

It's the exaggeration that makes me laugh. Nevermind, we are fortunate enough not to have it here in WA.

It's not an exaggeration. The reason why the sun sets at 6pm in winter and 9pm in summer (for Melb/Hobart) is due to the earths axis of rotation.

Refer to here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_rotation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ax...tObliquity.png

Referring to the second link. Essentially, the earth during year will move from 0 to 23.5 degrees along the "perpendicular to orbit" line shown. This allows the souther areas of Australia to "face" (for a better word) the sun more the greater the angle. During winter, this angle approaches 0, thus producing shorter sunlit days. Hence the sun will go down at 6pm. During summer (taking into accound daylight savings), the angle will approach 23.5, hence producing longer sunlit days. Hence the sun will set at 8:30-9pm.

As the upper parts of Australia lie closure to the ecliptic line shown in the second link, the changing in earths rotation are less pronounced. Think of it light a seasaw, with Melbourne/Hobart at one end, while Cairns is close to the pivot of the swing. If say the swing was to pivot by 30 degrees, Cairns will not move much compared to Melb/Hobart, as it lies closure to the pivot point.

Take a quick look at flappist post on page 3 about the sunrise/set data. For Hobart, during summer they will recieve roughly 16 hours of daylight, Cairns recieves roughly 14 hours. Now look at the winter data. Hobart recieves roughly 11 hours of sunlight, Cairns recieves roughly 12 hours. Hence the reason why the sun sets at 6ish and earlier in Hobart/Melb and sets far later in summer.

[xy500]

its all a bit of pointless fluff really, just set your own alarm an hour earlier and you have your own personal daylight saving time.
It was an inconvenience to have light at 9pm in Perth. But we can work around it. I don't see the issue with either way really, all it is, is people trying to control everything, even time itself!
The 9-5 drones seem to think they shouldn't ever get out of bed until they have to leave for work.

[whynot]

Ok, I will bite ... I hate DLS with a passion. The reason? I like getting up early (like around 4:30AM) in the middle of summer: just to enjoy a quite sunny morning without the typical noise of suburban life.

While some may make smart remarks about Queenslanders being worried about the curtains fading, consider this. If there is DLS in Queensland, on 3 April 2011 (the last day of summer time) in Mt Isa the sun will get up at 7:50AM. We are not worried about the curtains; we are worried about stumbling around in the dark!

The point about the day not being any hotter is true. However, in our lifestyle of everything being air-conditioned, there is data around to indicate that DLS increases electricity consumption. The research indicates that with DLS, the offices keep their A/C running later into the evening and the officer workers (going home early) turn on more A/C. (Rather ironic really, as DSL was introduced to conserve electricity during WWI.)

Finally, people who wish to have DLS just to keep the time zones aligned are going to have some real future shock. In this internet enabled age major business is 24 *7, with something, somewhere going on around the globe. I spend a lot of time talking to colleagues in W.A (a two-hour time difference) and I don’t have any trouble. In fact, the two hour time difference is an advantage. I get to have long phone conversations with them on the drive home (the reverse is true for them with their commute into work).