Elsevier

Energy

Volume 35, Issue 9, September 2010, Pages 3773-3782
Energy

The effect of daylight saving time options on electricity consumption of Turkey

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.05.027Get rights and content

Abstract

Most of the developed countries in the world use Daylight Saving Time (DST) as an energy conservation method. This study focuses on the effects of DST on electrical lighting in the buildings in Turkey. Turkey might adjust its daylight saving time to decrease energy consumption. For this purpose, five scenarios are considered and compared to status quo. The scenario with a 30-minute forward shift to single DST from April to October, stands out as the best solution to conserve electricity across the entire country. The results of the study show that maximum saving is obtained in this scenario by at least 0.7% on the consumption of lighting electricity.

Introduction

Because of current global economic crisis, high energy prices, and the encouragement of conservation, countries are planning to take measurements about energy conservation. Natural daylight helps us save energy since the more people make use of daylight, the less the electricity is used. Electricity can be saved with Daylight Saving Time (DST) because people have an extra time to use daylight in the evening and thereby need less electric lighting [1]. By aiming less electric use for lighting, DST is considered as one of the energy conservation methods. But in today’s world of artificial lighting and heating, people set their active hours by the clock rather than by the natural cycle of dawn and dusk [2]. So, working hours should arrange according to daylight. With the increasing importance of electricity use, this study aims to find the best DST option on lighting energy use in Turkey.

Many studies have been conducted to quantify the impact of DST on lighting energy use. For example, California Energy Commission [1] has models with different scenarios. Their models indicate that the largest peak savings (3 percent of peak) would be gained through the Winter Daylight Saving Time scenario. Winter DST scenario also predicts about 3400.0 MWh per day, i.e. 0.5 percent reduction in total energy consumption. Under Summer Double-Daylight Saving Time, a net savings of around 1500.0 MWh per day, or about 0.2 percent of use is predicted. It is found that savings would change from $300 million to $900 million under different scenarios. Meanwhile, the peak would drop on the order of 200.0 MW, or half a percent, a number small enough to be vulnerable to modeling and statistical uncertainties.

Rock [3], evaluated the effect of using or not using daylight saving time on residential building’s HVAC and lighting energy consumption. The results showed that the total annual energy cost is slightly increased by 0.147% on average when summer daylight saving time with winter standard time is used instead of standard time year-round. Changing from standard time year-round to daylight saving time year-round showed no significant change in energy consumption or cost for residence. Using daylight saving time year-round instead of winter standard time with summer daylight saving time slightly reduced the average annual energy consumption and cost.

Daylighting is also important for architectural designs to reduce energy use in buildings. Li et al. [4] used a computer simulation technique and found that peak electricity use and peak cooling requirement could be reduced with the proper use of daylighting. Therefore, DST can contribute to lower the peak power demand of buildings.

On the other hand, many studies have focused on the impact of DST on physiology and psychology, construction accident, traffic accident and finance. Kantermann et al. [5] indicated that the human circadian system does not adjust to DST and its seasonal adaptation to the changing photoperiods is disrupted by the introduction of summer time. Lahti et al. [6] showed that transition to daylight saving time appears to compromise the process of sleep by decreasing both sleep duration and sleep efficiency. Shapiro et al. [7] investigated the impact of daylight saving time on suicide attempts but could not show a direct relation between DST and suicide attempts. Holland and Hinze [8] investigated the influence of DST on construction accidents. No statistical differences were found to exist between use of DST or not. Coate and Markowitz [9] concluded that full year daylight saving time would reduce total pedestrian fatalities in the 5:00–10.00 a.m. and the 4:00–9:00 p.m. time periods by 13%. Meyerhoff [10] showed that DST reduces fatal traffic accidents involving motor vehicles by approximately one percent, during several weeks at the spring and fall DST transitions. Müller et al. [11] demonstrated that the daylight saving effect does not serve as a potential rationale for the weekend effect on the finance market. Aries and Newsham [12], made a comprehensive and detailed review on energy and non-energy effects of DST. They indicated that the existing knowledge about how DST affects energy use is limited, incomplete, or contradictory.

Section snippets

DST History in the World

DST has a long and chequered history. It has been most actively implemented in times of energy scarcity. Different DST applications were put into action for maximum savings since the beginning of 20th century.

The idea of shifting clocks to make better use of daylight hours was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in a satirical letter to the Journal of Paris in 1784. In 1907, the scheme was proposed in earnest by UK builder and businessman William Willett, in a pamphlet entitled “The Waste of

Time zones in Turkey

Currently, Turkey is located in +2 and +3 time zone. Turkey’s standard meridian in winter is the Greenwich Mean Time +2 time zone, which is demarcated by the 30 degrees Eastern longitude that passes through Izmit. In the summer, time is adjusted to GMT+3 at the 45 degrees Eastern longitude that passes through Iğdır. Winter time is observed for five months (From the last Sunday in October to the last Sunday in March) and summer time for seven months.

Generally, countries adjust their time

Electricity consumption in Turkey

Turkey’s electricity consumption has risen rapidly as a result of social and economic development. The electricity sector’s share in the Turkish economy has grown rapidly, given the 8% per annum growth in electricity demand over the past two decades [25]. Although Turkey has many kinds of energy resources, it still is an energy importing country; more than half of the energy requirement has been supplied by imports. Net electricity generation in Turkey has more than doubled over the past

Analysis of different scenarios

Kandel and Metz [1] and Momani et al. [31] used daily load curves to analyze the effects of DST on electricity consumption. Momani et al. [31] assumed a waking time of 6:00 and a sleeping time 23:00 for Jordan. They calculated the total night time hours for each month and analyzed the annual consumption. A similar approach is used in this paper.

In order to analyze DST practices in Turkey, different scenarios are evaluated by considering existing daylight. The effects of lighting electricity

Simple approach to conserve electricity

People tend to waste several hours of natural light each day. Most of us wake up well after the sun rises and go to sleep long after it sets. If we spent more waking hours when the sun is out, we would not need to use as much electricity to illuminate our surroundings. Research from the 1970s suggests that extended daylight saving time produces a modest but significant energy saving of about 1% [15].

The potential of DST to save energy rests primarily on projected effects on residential lighting

Results

The results of different scenarios may be summarized as follows: In Scenario 1, continuous DST was discussed. The disadvantage of this option would be for people in western cities in that they would start their day in complete darkness in winter, as the Sun would rise quite late. In order to prevent this, the working day may start at 9:00. On the other hand, this option causes no such problem in eastern cities.

In Scenario 2, the assumption was to continuously move the clocks 30 minutes forward.

Conclusions and recommendations

Many countries are still exploring different versions of DST. For example, the dates for DST were changed in the USA in 2007 and some other countries stopped using DST.

Extension of DST was investigated widely in the literature. Besides the extension of DST, different options were discussed in this study. The situation of Turkey is different from the other countries in the region, with a time difference of 1 hour and 16 minutes between its East and West. Turkey has almost the biggest time

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful for the hourly electricity use data provided by National Dispatch Center. Special thanks are due to Mr. Mehmet Aydın from TEDAS Rize Branch and Dr. Mustafa Kemal Cambazoglu from the University of Southern Mississippi at Stennis Space Center, MS for the review and valuable comments. I also thank the anonymous referees for their comments.

References (36)

  • A.T. Lahti et al.

    Transition to daylight saving time reduces sleep duration plus sleep efficiency of the deprived sleep

    Neuroscience Letters

    (2006)
  • M.C. Shapiro et al.

    Daylight saving time in psychiatric illness

    Journal of Affective Disorders

    (1990)
  • N. Holland et al.

    Daylight savings time changes and construction accidents

    Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

    (2000)
  • J.N. Meyerhoff

    The influence of daylight saving time on motor vehicle fatal traffic accidents

    Accident Analysis and Prevention

    (1978)
  • M. Hopkin

    Saving time (special report)

    Nature

    (2007)
  • Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources

    Information note (Meridyen değişikliği ve yaz saati uygulaması)

  • D. Engber

    Spring forward cut back? Does daylight-saving time really save energy?

  • The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA)

    Single/double summer time

  • Cited by (21)

    • Daylight effect on the electricity demand in Spain and assessment of Daylight Saving Time policies

      2020, Energy Policy
      Citation Excerpt :

      The results show a reduction in load of 0.3%, but it also claims that environmental and financial improvements would be greater due to the shaving of peaks. The case of Turkey is analyzed in (Karasu, 2010). The authors compare 5 different scenarios of DST policies to determine which one would maximize daylight during waking hours in Turkey.

    • An econometric evaluation of daylight saving time in Mexico

      2019, Energy
      Citation Excerpt :

      In several ways, March is closer to summer months than November. Karasu [27] points out that the change in the average temperature in Turkey from March (without DST) to April (with DST) is marginal (it increases 2.2° C), while the change in temperature from October (with DST) to November (without DST) is large (it decreases 7.6° C). Something similar occurs in Mexico.

    • A review of calculating procedures on daylight factor based metrics under various CIE Standard Skies and obstructed environments

      2017, Building and Environment
      Citation Excerpt :

      Daylighting is an important sustainable design strategy for alleviating problems in energy use [1] climate [2] and pollution [3], and for improving health [4], visual comfort [5] and green building development [6].

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text