Daylight Savings Time....

[musicman]

Yeah, it happens here too. However if they didn't do that the sun would be up at 5:00 AM and set at about 8:30 pm. I think it is slightly better with the 6:00 to 9:30. Heck I just wish they would pick one and stick with it. Like those weirdos in Arizona.

It just always seemed weird and unnecessary to me - as if farmers and construction workers don't know when the hell to come in. But, then - financially speaking - I've got a dog in this fight, too. My opinion is probably not the most objective.

 

[Stephanie]

Today the sunrise 6:56am, sunset 8:55pm. By the summer soltice, the sun sets at 12:30am. We need blackout shades, so the sun isn't in our eyes when we go to bed!!!!!! :happy2:

 

[Trinity]

So just how did all of this clock changing business start?

Benjamin Franklin, the 18th century statesmen, probably best known for drawing lightning with a kite, was the original mastermind behind the concept of daylight saving time. In an essay entitled, "An Economical Project," he speculated that large amounts of money could be saved on candles each year if the sun were to rise and set later. This revelation came to him after being awoken by bright daylight at 6 a.m. one summer morning. He figured there was no real reason for there to be light at such an early hour, and this light would be better spent in the evening, thus resulting in less candle use.

In the book “Waste of Daylight”, Franklin’s idea was seriously advocated for the first time. The writer, William Willett, proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and moving them back by the same amount on four Sundays in September. According to llrx.com, Willet said, "Everyone appreciates the long light evenings. Everyone laments their shortage as Autumn approaches; and everyone has given utterance to regret that the clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used".

Willett spent a lot of time and money advocating this cause. A year after he began, he received attention from authorities. A bill was drafted and introduced in Britain several times but met with harsh ridicule. It wasn’t until the year after Willett died, 1916, that the Act passed, and his idea was put into use.

The plan was not formally adopted in the United States until 1918. It established standard time zones and set summer Daylight Saving Time to begin on March 31, 1918. At the time, people in America were waking up and going to bed a lot earlier than we do today. As a result, the law received so much opposition that it was repealed in 1919 over President Wilson's veto. It then became an option that varied from area to area. Some places followed suit, others didn’t. The states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island kept the law, as did some cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago.


More http://www.whimsplace.com/100104/technosociety.htm

 

[Deornwulf]

From the following website

http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html

Daylight Saving Time also saves energy. Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country's electricity usage by a significant, but small amount, of about one percent each day with Daylight Saving Time. We save energy because we use less electricity for lighting and appliances. Similarly, In New Zealand, power companies have found that power usage decreases 3.5% when daylight saving starts. In the first week, peak evening consumption commonly drops around 5%.

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.


In the summer, people who rise before the sun rises are using more energy in the morning than if DST was not in effect. However, although 70% of Americans rise before 7 am, this waste of energy from having less sunlight in the morning is more than offset by the savings of energy that results from more sunlight in the evening.

In the winter, the afternoon Daylight Saving Time advantage is offset for many people and businesses by the morning's need for more lighting. In spring and fall, the advantage is generally less than one hour. So, Daylight Saving Time saves energy for lighting in all seasons of the year, but it saves least during the four darkest months of winter (November, December, January and February) when the afternoon advantage can be offset by the need for lighting because of late sunrise.

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.

There is a public health benefit to Daylight Saving Time by decreasing traffic accidents. Several studies in the U.S. and Britain have found that the DST daylight shift reduces net traffic accidents and fatalities by close to one percent. An increase in the dark mornings is more than compensated for by a decrease in the evenings.