Most of the United States begins Daylight Saving Time (DST) at 2:00am on the second Sunday in March and reverts back to standard time on the first Sunday in November. This year Daylight Saving Time ends on November 6, 2011 and will not begin again until March 11, 2012. Make sure to set your clocks back an hour this fall for the ending of DST in November. Remember the phrase “Spring forward, Fall back” to help remind you whether to set your clock an hour forward or an hour back. Here are a few interesting facts about Daylight Saving Time:
- It is actually Daylight Saving Time and not Daylight SavingS Time as most people pronounce it.
- Benjamin Franklin first suggested the idea in an essay titled “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” and was first published in the Journal de Paris in April 1784.
- William Willett, an Englishman, again suggested DST again in 1907, but he wanted to move the clock ahead by 80 minutes in 4 moves of 20 minutes each during the spring and summer months.
- In 1918, in order to conserve resources for the World War I effort, the U.S. Congress put the country on DST for the remainder of WWI. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. Because it was so unpopular, this law was later repealed.
- When the U.S. went to war again in World War II, Congress reinstated DST on February 9, 1942. Time was advanced 1 hour and remained advanced until September 30, 1945.
- From 1945 till 1966 there was no U.S. law about DST so states and localities were free to choose to observe or not observe DST.
- By 1966 about 100 million Americans were observing DST through their own local laws and customs.
- The American law by which we observe DST is known as the Uniform Time Act of 1966. This does not require that anyone observe Daylight Saving Time; all it says is that if we are going to observe DST it must be done uniformly. This act set DST to begin on the last Sunday in April and end on the last Sunday in October.
- Any area can be exempt from DST by passing a local ordinance.
- In 1986 the Uniform Time Act was amended to begin DST on the first Sunday in April.
- In 2007 DST was extended by 4 weeks due to the passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005.
- Today DST begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November.
