Daylight Savings time ended yesterday. They keep harping about how it's saving energy. If they *really* wanted to save money and energy, they would use those solar heat panels and wind generators. The reason why they won't is because it won't make them money. That is what it's all about with every single issue. Money. How *they* can make money. Never mind about how they should be concerned about helping people. The only thing they help themselves to is our pocketbooks.
A history of daylight savings time someone sent to me:
They Changed the Time and Now the Seasons?
1 Thessalonians, chapter 5
"1": But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I
write unto you.
"2": For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as
a thief in the night.
"3": For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction
cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.
"4": But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief.
"5": Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we
are not of the night, nor of darkness.
"6": Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be
sober.
"21": Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
"22": Abstain from all appearance of
evil.
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡
SAVING TIME, SAVING ENERGY
Daylight Saving Time, Its History and Why We Use It
by
Bob Aldrich, Webmaster
(and Former Information Officer)
California Energy Commission
Spring forward...Fall back....
It's ingrained in our consciousness almost as much as the A-B-Cs or our
spelling reminder of "i before e...." And it's a regular event, though
perhaps a bit less regular than the swallows coming back to Capistrano.
Yet in those four words is a whole collection of trivia, facts and
common sense about Daylight Saving Time.
In 2005 and 2006, Daylight Saving Time begins for most of the United
States at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April. (See chart below.) Time
reverts to standard time at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October.
Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and begins
for most of the United States at:
2 a.m. on the Second Sunday in March
to
2 a.m. on the First Sunday of November.
(See chart below.)
The new starts and stop dates were set in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Change Your Clock & Change A Bulb!
The National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission recommend that consumers change the battery in smoke
and carbon monoxide detectors when we change the clocks for Daylight
Saving Time.
While you've got the ladder out to check your smoke detectors, why not
change a bulb?
Switching to energy efficient bulbs in your ceiling fixtures could save
you $30 a year per bulb on your electricity bill.
Energy efficient lighting is particularly important in the fall when
Daylight Saving Time ends and the days are shorter.
The latest generation of energy-saving lighting includes compact
fluorescent bulbs that fit in standard light sockets and provide
pleasant, uniform light.
Low-energy halogen or LED lighting is also becoming widely available.
Visit www.energystar.gov or www.fypower.org for information on lighting
rebates and discounts.
Daylight Saving Time - for the U.S. and its territories - is NOT
observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin
Islands, and by most of Arizona (with the exception of the Navajo Indian
Reservation in Arizona).
Indiana, which used to be split with a portion of the state observing
DST and the other half not, is now whole. In the past, counties in the
Eastern Time Zone portion of the state did not observe DST. They were on
standard time year round. A state law was passed in 2005 that has the
entire state of Indiana observing DST beginning in April 2006.
Indiana isn't the only state that wanted to change daylight saving time.
California asked for federal "approval" to move to a "year-round"
Daylight Saving Time in 2001-2002 because of its energy crisis. (See
below.)
According to Mining Co. Guide to Geography, DST is also observed in
about 70 countries:
"Other parts of the world observe Daylight Saving Time as well. While
European nations have been taking advantage of the time change for
decades, in 1996 the European Union (EU) standardized a EU-wide
"summertime period."
The EU version of Daylight Saving Time runs from the last Sunday in
March through the last Sunday in October.
During the summer, Russia's clocks are two hours ahead of standard time.
During the winter, all 11 of the Russian time zones are an hour ahead of
standard time.
During the summer months, Russian clocks are advanced another hour
ahead.
With their high latitude, the two hours of Daylight Saving Time really
helps to save daylight. In the southern hemisphere where summer comes in
December, Daylight Saving Time is observed from October to March.
Equatorial and tropical countries (lower latitudes) don't observe
Daylight Saving Time since the daylight hours are similar during every
season, so there's no advantage to moving clocks forward during the
summer."
Daylight Saving Time Saves Energy
One of the biggest reasons we change our clocks to Daylight Saving Time
(DST) is that it saves energy. Energy use and the demand for electricity
for lighting our homes is directly connected to when we go to bed and
when we get up. Bedtime for most of us is late evening through the year.
When we go to bed, we turn off the lights and TV.
In the average home, 25 percent of all the electricity we use is for
lighting and small appliances, such as TVs, VCRs and stereos.
A good percentage of energy consumed by lighting and appliances occurs
in the evening when families are home. By moving the clock ahead one
hour, we can cut the amount of electricity we consume each day.
Studies done in the 1970s by the U.S. Department of Transportation show
that we trim the entire country's electricity usage by about one percent
EACH DAY with Daylight Saving Time.
Daylight Saving Time "makes" the sun "set" one hour later and therefore
reduces the period between sunset and bedtime by one hour. This means
that less electricity would be used for lighting and appliances late in
the day.
We also use less electricity because we are home fewer hours during the
"longer" days of spring and summer. Most people plan outdoor activities
in the extra daylight hours. When we are not at home, we don't turn on
the appliances and lights. A poll done by the U.S. Department of
Transportation indicated that Americans liked Daylight Saving Time
because "there is more light in the evenings / can do more in the
evenings."
While the amounts of energy saved per household are small...added up
they can be very large.
In the winter, the afternoon Daylight Saving Time advantage is offset by
the morning's need for more lighting. In spring and fall, the advantage
is less than one hour.
So, Daylight Saving Time saves energy for lighting in all seasons of the
year except for the four darkest months of the year (November, December,
January and February) when the afternoon advantage is offset by the need
for lighting because of late sunrise.
A study was released in May 2001 by the State of California's Energy
Commission to see if creating an early DST or going to a year-round DST
will help with the electricity problems the state faced in
2000-2001-2002. To download a copy of the study, Effects of Daylight
Saving Time on California Electricity Use, please look for: Publication
# 400-01-13
In May 2001, the California state legislature sent a Senate Joint
Resolution (SJRX2 1) to the White House and Congress asking that states
be allowed to extend Daylight Saving Time year round.
The resolution can be viewed at:
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sjrx2_1&sess=0102&house=\
B&author=karnette.
Congress and the White House did not act on the request because of the
world-changing events of September 11, 2001. No new legislation has been
passed in California since then.
But why do we have Daylight Saving Time to begin with? Who created the
laws and regulations that we follow?
History of Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time is a change in the standard time of each time zone.
Time zones were first used by the railroads in 1883 to standardize their
schedules. According to the The Canadian Encyclopedia Plus by McClelland
& Stewart Inc., Canada's "[Sir Sandford] Fleming also played a key role
in the development of a worldwide system of keeping time. Trains had
made obsolete the old system where major cities and regions set clocks
according to local astronomical conditions.
Fleming advocated the adoption of a standard or mean time and hourly
variations from that according to established time zones. He was
instrumental in convening an International Prime Meridian Conference in
Washington in 1884 at which the system of international standard time --
still in use today -- was adopted."
In 1918, the U.S. Congress made the U.S. rail zones official under
federal law and gave the responsibility to make any changes to the
Interstate Commerce Commission, the only federal transportation
regulatory agency at the time.
When Congress created the Department of Transportation in 1966, it
transferred the responsibility for the time laws to the new department.
The American law by which we turn our clock forward in the spring and
back in the fall is known as the Uniform Time Act of 1966. The law does
not require that anyone observe Daylight Saving Time; all the law says
is that if we are going to observe Daylight Saving Time, it must be done
uniformly.
Daylight Saving Time has been around for most of this century and even
earlier. Benjamin Franklin, while a minister to France, first suggested the idea
in an essay titled "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of
Light." The essay was first published in the Journal de Paris in April
1784. But it wasn't for more than a century later that an Englishman,
William Willett, suggested it again in 1907.
Willett was reportedly passing by a home where the shades were down,
even though the sun was up. He wrote a pamphlet called "The Waste of
Daylight" because of his observations.
Willett wanted to move the clock ahead by 80 minutes in four moves of 20
minutes each during the spring and summer months. In 1908, the British
House of Commons rejected advancing the clock by one hour in the spring
and back again in the autumn.
Willett's idea didn't die, and it culminated in the introduction of
British Summer Time by an Act of Parliament in 1916. Clocks were put one
hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) during the summer months.
England recognized that the nation could save energy and changed their
clocks during the first World War.
In 1918, in order to conserve resources for the war effort, the U.S.
Congress placed the country on Daylight Saving Time for the remainder of
WW I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law,
however, proved so unpopular that it was later repealed.
When America went to war again, Congress reinstated Daylight Saving Time
on February 9, 1942. Time in the U.S. was advanced one hour to save
energy. It remained advanced one hour forward year-round until September
30, 1945.
In England, the energy saving aspects of Daylight Saving were recognized
again during WWII. Clocks were changed two hours ahead of GMT during the
summer, which became known as Double Summer Time. But it didn't stop
with the summer. During the war, clocks remained one hour ahead of GMT
though the winter.
From 1945 to 1966, there was no U.S. law about Daylight Saving Time.
So, states and localities were free to observe Daylight Saving Time or
not.
This, however, caused confusion -- especially for the broadcasting
industry, and for trains and buses. Because of the different local
customs and laws, radio and TV stations and the transportation companies
had to publish new schedules every time a state or town began or ended
Daylight Saving Time.
By 1966, some 100 million Americans were observing Daylight Saving Time
through their own local laws and customs. Congress decided to step in
end the confusion and establish one pattern across the country. The
Uniform Time Act of 1966 (15 U.S. Code Section 260a) created Daylight
Saving Time to begin on the last Sunday of April and to end on the last
Sunday of October. Any area that wanted to be exempt from Daylight
Saving Time could do so by passing a local ordinance. The law was
amended in 1986 to begin Daylight Saving Time on the first Sunday in
April.
Embargo Changes Daylight Saving Time
Following the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, Congress put most of the nation on
extended Daylight Saving Time for two years in hopes of saving
additional energy. This experiment worked, but Congress did not continue
the experiment in 1975 because of opposition -- mostly from the farming
states.
In 1974, Daylight Saving Time lasted ten months and lasted for eight
months in 1975, rather than the normal six months (then, May to
October).
The U.S. Department of Transportation -- which has jurisdiction over
Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. -- studied the results of the
experiment. It concluded:
Daylight Saving Time saves energy.
Based on consumption figures for 1974 and 1975, The Department of
Transportation says observing Daylight Saving Time in March and April
saved the equivalent in energy of 10,000 barrels of oil each day -- a
total of 600,000 barrels in each of those two years. California Energy
Commission studies confirm a saving of about one percent per day.
Daylight Saving Time saves lives and prevents traffic injuries. The
earlier Daylight Saving Time allowed more people to travel home from
work and school in daylight, which is much safer than darkness. And
except for the months of November through February, Daylight Saving Time
does not increase the morning hazard for those going to school and work.
Daylight Saving Time prevents crime.
Because people get home from work and school and complete more errands
and chores in daylight, Daylight Saving Time also seems to reduce
people's exposure to various crimes, which are more common in darkness
than in light.
The Department of Transportation estimated that 50 lives were saved and
about 2,000 injuries were prevented in March and April of the study
years. The department also estimated that $28 million was saved in
traffic accident costs.
Newer studies, however, reportedly challenge the earlier claims of
safety and crime prevention under DST. Further research probably is
warranted.
Congress and President Reagan Change Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time was changed slightly in 1986 when President Reagan
signed Public Law 99-359. It changed Daylight Saving Time from the last
Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. No change was made to the ending date of the last Sunday in October.
This was done ostensibly to conserve energy during the month of April.
Adding the entire month of April is estimated to save nationwide about
300,000 barrels of oil each year.
Changing Again in 2007
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was passed by Congress and then signed
into law by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005. Under the new
law, Daylight Saving Time begins three weeks earlier than previously, on
the second Sunday in March. DST is extended by one week to the first
Sunday in November.
The new start and stop period begins March 2007.
The original House bill would have added two full months, one in the
spring and another in the fall. According to some U.S. senators, farmers
complained that a two-month extension could adversely affect livestock,
and airline officials said it would have complicated scheduling of
international flights. So, a compromise was worked out to start DST on
the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November.
Enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 will not alter the rights of
the states and territories to choose not to observe Daylight Saving
Time.
More About TIME
A new book all about DST has just been released. It's called Seize the
Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time by
Dr. David Prerau. It's published by Avalon Publishing / Thunder's Mouth
Press - ISBN: 1-56025-655-9. There's also a website about the book at:
www.seizethedaylight.com
Two fun quotes from the book:
"An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night
in the autumn is all that we ask in return for dazzling gifts. We borrow
an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five
months later." -Winston Churchill
"It seems very strange . . . that in the course of the world's history
so obvious an improvement should never have been adopted. . . . The next
generation of Britishers would be the better for having had this extra
hour of daylight in their childhood." -Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Many countries observe Daylight Saving Time. But the beginning and
ending dates are often different than those used in the United States.
The book, The Official Airline Guide, is one of the best sources of
information about whether or not Daylight Saving Time is observed in
another country.
You can find out more information about Daylight Saving Time by writing
TIME, c/o Office of General Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation,
Washington, D.C. 20590.
Another Web site about DST can be found at:
http://www.webexhibits.com/daylightsaving/, which is a public service of
the Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) by WebExhibits
as a compliment to www.time.gov.
The U.S. Naval Observatory's Web site gives the current time for all
time zones, and it's free. Go to:
http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/timer.pl.
Note, however, that with Internet traffic and delays on servers and
browsers, that the correct time may be off a few seconds or more.
For the correct time of the day, you can call the Department of
Transportation at 900-410-TIME. There is a charge for the call. Or check
with your local phone company to see if there is a local dial up time
service such as "POP-CORN."
Some phone companies also have a local number you can call for the
current correct local time. Call directory assistance in your area for
the number to call for the correct time.
One question people always ask about Daylight Saving Time regards the
time that restaurants and bars close. In many states, liquor cannot be
served after 2 a.m. But at 2 a.m. in the fall, the time switches back
one hour. So, why can't they serve for that additional hour in October?
The answer: the bars do not close at 2 a.m. but actually at 1:59 a.m.
So, they are already closed when the time changes from Daylight Saving
Time into Standard Time.
Final observations:
It is Daylight Saving (singular) Time, NOT Daylight SavingS Time. We are
saving daylight, so it is singular and not plural.
Daylight Saving Time differs in other areas of the world. Consult a good
encyclopedia for additional information about DST in your own country.
Or check out the "World Time Zone" or the "WorldTime" Web pages at:
www.worldtimezone.com/daylight.html
www.worldtimeserver.com/
www.worldtime.com
There's an excellent history of time-keeping at Walk Through Time - The
Evolution of Time Measurement through the Ages
Thanks for all your e-mail! We are amazed that this page gets so much
attention, usually twice a year. While we appreciate the e-mail, we can
not answer a lot of your specific questions. For example, we do not have
the ability to tell you whether DST was practiced on a specific date or
by a specific region/state/city/town in the past. Check out microfilm or
old printed copies of your local newspapers around early April and late
October of the years you are interested in. They will usually have
stories or reminders about setting your clock. Those papers are a good
indicator. Your local libraries should be able to help you with the
microfilmed or printed copies of the old newspapers.
If you are interested in changing DST, either abolishing it or having it
extended year-round....please do not contact the California Energy
Commission. We have no jurisdiction over DST. Instead, contact your
state's elected officials or your Congressional representatives. you can
also contact the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.
A final note, especially in that one of my uncles was a fire chief in
Connecticut, my step son is a firefighter, and one of my colleagues has
a family member who is the former fire chief in Sacramento...with the
change of Daylight Saving Time, it's a good time to change the batteries
in your smoke detector(s). Changing the batteries twice a year will make
sure that the detector(s) will be working in case there is a fire. Some
inexpensive detectors also need to be replaced completely about every
five years or so. Also make sure you dispose of the old batteries and
alarms properly. Check with your local solid waste disposal company or
waste management board to find out the best way to dispose of old
batteries and the alarms.
Daylight Saving Time
In the United States
1990 Through 2015
In spring, move clocks forward one hour.
In fall, turn clocks backward one hour. YearDST Begins 2 a.m.
(First Sunday in April)DST Ends 2 a.m.
(Last Sunday in October)1990April 1October 281991April 7October 27
1992April 5October 251993April 4October 311994April 3October 301995April
2October 291996April 7October 271997April 6October 261998April 5October
251999April 4October 312000April 2October 292001April 1October
282002April 7October 272003April 6October 262004April 4October
312005April 3October 302006April 2October 29DST Start and End date
changes beginning March 2007YearDST Begins 2 a.m.
(Second Sunday in March)DST Ends 2 a.m.
(First Sunday in November)2007March 11November 42008March 9November
22009March 8November 12010March 14November 72011March 13November
62012March 11November 42013March 10November 32014March 9November
22015March 8November 1
Hello,
I am trying to find out exactly when the state of California first implemented Daylight Savings Time. Exactly what year was it when California first started using Daylight Savings Time. And when California did first started using Daylight Savings Time, was it implemented all over California at all start and was DST implemented to certain parts of California first before the rest of California started using DST.
I know I was born in Oakland, California in August 1957, and I feel I must find out if daylight savings time was already implemented and being used in Oakland, California when I was born. Please help me.
Thank you.
Posted by: Joe Brooke | Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 09:20 PM