WEATHERFORD —
Don’t forget to move your clocks ahead one hour Saturday night. Daylight Saving Time (DST) kicks in 2 a.m. Sunday, and although we lose an hour this weekend, we “spring forward” into spring break and golf season, and pick up an extra hour of daylight in the evenings to work in our gardens and play in the great outdoors. Spring begins March 20, six days later.
In the United States, Daylight Saving Time (not savings time with an “s”) was first instituted to save energy for war production during World War I, then rejected and later reinstituted during World War II for the same reason. The thought has always been to avoid the use of electricity by taking advantage of longer daylight hours.
Studies done by the Department of Transportation in the 1970s concluded the country’s energy usage was reduced by about 10,000 barrels of oil per day during 1974 and 1975, by observing the time change. People plan outdoor activities and are home for fewer hours, so they don’t turn on lights and appliances. Having the sun “set” an hour later also reduces the time between sunset and bedtime.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 led to a month-long extension of DST in 2007; since that time, DST has begun on the second Sunday of March and concluded on the first Sunday of November.
Not everyone agrees, however, that DST saves energy. In fact, a 2008 study done in Indiana, which only recently adopted DST throughout the entire state, seemed to indicate that the switch to DST actually increased the demand for residential electricity. New studies are currently in progress.
Not every U.S. state and territory has adopted DST, especially in regions close to the equator where the length of daylight is more consistent during the year. Arizona and Hawaii, as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa have chosen not to observe DST.
