Middlebury is on time with DST changes

Author: Polly Johnson

It was way back in 1784 when an ever-resourceful Benjamin Franklin, wanting to save on candles, first proposed the idea of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Yet DST was not even officially enacted until 1966, under the Uniform Time Act. Now, thanks to the passage of the more current Energy Policy Act of 2005, DST began last Sunday morning at 2 a.m. and will end at 2 a.m. on Nov. 4 - a full three weeks longer than last year.

The initiative has a huge number of supporters who see the change as an easy way to conserve energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The hope is that the demand for electricity will fall during early evening peak hours, which will cut fuel consumption.

But according to Campus Sustainability Coordinator Jack Byrne, the benefits go beyond energy savings, "From what I have read about studies that have been done where this has been tried before (particularly in Australia) the possible energy savings benefits are small - somewhere in the 0.5 to 1.0% range," said Byrne. However, there are other benefits, like lowering the rate of traffic accidents, more light to exercise after work and lowering the crime rate. So, it is worth doing, but not necessarily because it will make a significant difference in the consumption of energy."

However, according to Sunday Night Group member Will Martin '07.5, while the policy may not create a huge environmental change, it will have a behavioral effect. "Regardless of any political commentary about the true motivation for such a change," Martin said, "the change does show hope for a more creative, pragmatic response to our energy situation. An effective response to climate change and energy dependency won't come from technology but from behavioral changes. This is one of them. We have the sun, let's use it."

The initiative required the immediate changing of all College clock settings.

Manager of Central Systems & Lab Support Rick James was in charge of making sure that the College's computer and technology systems transitioned smoothly. He alerted students via an all-student e-mail a couple of weeks ago, that "there would be extended downtime on Sunday, Feb. 18, from 7 a.m. to noon," during which the initial steps were taken to prepare for last Sunday morning.

According to James, his team had to "patch every server, of which there are about 130, as well as the different operating systems - IBM, Linux, the different versions of Windows and Netware. We had to install patches and restart most servers." "Patching" refers to modifications of operating systems. The process, according to James, "took about seven or eight hours to get through," and included "four of us who worked that Sunday." Although it was a "tedious process," with the chance that something could go wrong, James and his team "got through it pretty well."

So far, everything seems to have worked out okay. said James, "Everything seems to be going pretty well. A couple of issues here and there, but other than that, doors unlocked when they were supposed to, everyone seems to be getting to class on time and there have been no major issues."

Although so far problem-free, James was quick to admit that he is "glad it's over!"