Americans braced on Saturday for an early change of clocks to daylight saving time, with experts expecting some confusion that could spill over into the working week.
Daylight, or summer time, began overnight on Saturday, instead of the first weekend of April, as has been customary for decades.
While some warn about havoc in scheduling and computer systems, reminiscent of the Y2K glitch when the year 1999 turned to 2000, others pointed out that the early switch is designed to reap benefits in energy savings.
Representatives Edward Markey and Fred Upton, who sponsored the amendment to the 2005 Energy Bill requiring the change, said it was expected by 2020 to save US$4.4 billion in energy bills and avoid the need to build more than three large electric power plants.
They said it also would save 7.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas, and avoid nearly 10.8 million tonnes of carbon emissions because people consume less electricity in the evening if it is still light.
"The change in the beginning of daylight saving time is just one step towards making our country more efficient in its usage of energy and conscious of our environment," Markey said on Wednesday.
"Not only will Americans have more daylight at their disposal for four additional weeks in the year, but we will also see wide energy saving, less crime, fewer traffic fatalities, more recreation time and increased economic activity. Ultimately, daylight saving just brings a smile to everybody's faces," he said.
Others are not smiling. They say businesses have been slow in updating critical computer systems and fear it might lead to inaccurate times for financial transactions, potential delays in airline flights and other headaches.
As well, brokerages might execute automatic stock trades at the wrong hour and BlackBerry users could find their handsets out of sync with their calendars, causing missed appointments.
"We fear that some high-risk organizations are not well prepared," said Andy Kyte, research vice president at the consulting firm Gartner Inc.
"This is not [year 2000] Y2K-scale, but it could generate business procedure and IT system problems that modestly disrupt smooth business operations, irritate customers and tarnish reputations," he said.
Unlike the year 2000 bug, which generated wide publicity and prompted considerable upgrades, this change has gone relatively unnoticed. But because the US change comes at a different time from those in Europe and elsewhere, it has the potential to create some problems.
At least one precedent suggests the change will not be catastrophic. In August 2000, parts of Australia shifted to daylight-saving time two months early to provide more daylight for the Sydney Summer Olympics. The only fallout was a torrent of missed appointments because electronic calendars were off.
Gartner said multinational organizations or those with customers and suppliers inside and outside the US face a "significant risk of continuous minor irritations and glitches that will negatively impact IT and business efficiency."
Computers using Windows XP SP2 and Apple's OS-X operating systems should handle the time change smoothly as long as users download regular system updates.
John Challenger of the consulting firm Challenger Gray and Christmas said any problems could spill over to today, with a bleary-eyed workforce struggling with one less hour of rest. He said productivity may be down as much as 30 percent today.
"Not only will this catch many Americans off guard in terms of their sleep habits, but information technology experts are predicting some computer glitches related to the early shift," Challenger said. "The glitches are not expected to be major, but they could be enough to slow the pace of work on Monday."
Some say the surprise may hurt an already sleep-deprived public.
"Millions of Americans already do not get the sleep they need," said Richard Gelula of the National Sleep Foundation, urging people to set aside time for nine hours of sleep.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2