|
It’s that time – already
Get ready to lose an hour of sleep as daylight saving time returns this weekend – almost a month sooner than in previous years.
This year’s official time to “spring forward” is 2 a.m. Sunday, March 11. However, it is suggested that clocks and watches be set forward an hour before going to bed Saturday night in order to be on time Sunday morning.
Daylight saving time continues a week longer as well – until 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 – rather than concluding the last weekend in October as it has for many years. This year’s changes come as a result of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
DST is practiced to gain an extra hour of daylight during the early evening, resulting in the conservation of energy by substituting natural sunlight for electrical lighting.
According to “The Old Farmer’s Almanac,” DST first began in 1918 during World War I to allow for more evening light and save fuel for the war effort. Since then, the practice has been used on and off, with different start and end dates.
Benjamin Franklin first suggested the idea in 1784. It was revived in 1907, when William Willett proposed a similar system in the pamphlet titled “The Waste of Daylight.” The Germans were the first to officially adopt the light-extending system in 1915, followed by the British, and in 1918 the United States, when Congress passed the Standard Time Act, establishing U.S. time zones.
|
