Daylight-saving time changes in place

Nevada Daily Mail

Federal law has extended the end of daylight-saving time by one week this fall, to 2 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 4, when a groggy public will turn back their clocks one hour, "falling back" in the fall. On Aug. 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which included the changes in daylight-saving time effective in 2007.

However, if your appliances or clocks hold a daylight savings time memory and were purchased before 2005, Sunday Oct. 28, might have been a confusing day for you.

Millions of pre-programmed electronic clocks set themselves back to standard time last Sunday simply because they were programmed before congress' decision to move the change back a week. Older computer operating systems, cell phones, time card clocks, and appliances are some of the time-oriented equipment affected throughout the country.

Consumers are already noting lifestyle differences attributed to the later ending of daylight-saving time -- Halloween trick-or-treaters had an extra hour of daylight, enabling some to carry out their door-to-door tradition when some natural light still existed. This time last year, most trick-or-treaters would have begun their quest for candy and other treats in the dark.

But legislators have said the reason for the change was mostly centered around energy conservation. Believing that the delay would save on the nations energy usage by giving us more time to work in the daylight, U.S. Congress accepted the change. A report on whether or not the time change reduced power consumption is to be released some time in December.

It has been noted, that as far back as 1784 the idea of daylight-saving time existed. Benjamin Franklin realized that during certain seasons the sun rises while most people are still asleep. By adjusting their clocks and waking earlier people could conserve candles.

Daylight-saving time has been used in the United States since World War I. During that time, Germany and Austria, in an effort to conserve fuel needed to produce electric power began saving daylight, at 11 p.m. on April 10, 1916. Soon, other countries adopted this action, in 1916, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Tasmania joined in. Britain followed suit three weeks later on May 21, 1916. However, this idea was not adopted in the United States until 1918. On March 10, 1918, "An act to preserve daylight and provide standard time for the United States" was enacted. This law established both standard time zones and set summer DST to begin on March 31, 1918. Daylight saving time was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. After the war ended, the law proved very unpopular mainly because most people went to bed earlier then and rose earlier than they do today. Therefore, it was repealed in 1919 with a Congressional override of President Wilson's veto.

Daylight-saving time then began as a local option and was continued in a few states, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and in some cities, New York and Philadelphia.

When World War II came about President Franklin Roosevelt instituted year round Daylight savings time, called "War time," from Feb. 2, 1942, to Sept. 30, 1945. From 1945 to 1966, there was no federal law regarding daylight saving time, so various localities and states operated on their own time. This caused major confusion for the broadcast industry, railroads, airlines and bus companies. On Jan. 4, 1974, President Richard Nixon signed into law the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973. Beginning on Jan. 6, 1974, implementing the daylight-saving time, clocks were set ahead for a 15-month period through April 27, 1975.

The Uniform Time Act was developed in 1966, due to states and localities practicing their own inconsistent time laws. The act established a system of uniform (within each time zone) daylight-saving time, exempting only those states whose legislatures voted to keep standard time.

In 1972, Congress revised the law to provide that, if a state was in two or more time zones, the state could exempt part of the state that was in one time zone while providing that the part of the state in a different time zone would observe daylight-saving time.

The federal law was amended in 1986 to begin daylight-saving time on the first Sunday in April, with the most recent change effective this year. The correct time change this fall is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 4, at 2 a.m. A change in the spring beginning of daylight-saving time also changed in 2007, moving from April to the second Sunday in March.