Montshire Minute: Daylight Saving Time

Originally aired during the week of October 26, 1998

Monday

O.K everybody: Spring forward. . . fall back . . . spring forward . . . fall back . . . spring forward . . . fall back . . . Getting the hang of this? Well, the real point of this exercise is to check if you remembered to set your clocks back an hour over the weekend. If you did, you won't have to do these exercises again until the first Monday in April, when Daylight Saving Time begins again. Daylight Savings Time is an amazing thing - in the spring, it can "make" the sun "set" one hour later, reducing the period between sunset and bedtime by one hour. Of course, the earth's rotation doesn't speed up or slow down every time we humans decide to reset our watches. The earth doesn't brake for anything! But the effect of "falling back" means more daylight in the morning at this time of year. And we get back that hour of sleep we lost in the spring. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so chipper!

Tuesday

Until about 100 years ago, Americans didn't feel any real need to establish time zones. Farming was the main occupation, and the rhythm of the day was set by the rising and setting of the sun. Each community pretty much set their clocks according to local conditions. But with the introduction of railroads, travelers could be rapidly whisked away east or west across vast stetches of territory. Suddenly keeping a standard time became important. Trains were missed. People kept asking each other "Hey, what time you got?" Time zones were first used by railroads in 1883 to establish nationwide schedules. Canada's Sir Sandford Fleming advocated a system of worldwide time zones and helped convene the International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington in 1884. There, the system of international standard time -- still in use today -- was adopted.

Wednesday

The big advantage to Daylight Savings time is energy savings. When we set our clocks ahead in the spring (you know, the "leap forward") we are artificially giving ourselves more daylight in the evenings. Because it's relatively light out, we don't use as much electricity from lights and small appliances, which, according to the energy department, uses up about 25 percent of electricity in the average American home. Daylight Savings hasn't always been accepted. In Word War I, we used Daylight Savings to conserve for the war effort. But the law proved to be unpopular because people generally went to bed earlier in those days, and it's hard to get to sleep before sunset! So the law was discontinued. But Daylight Savings made another appearance during World War II , again in order to conserve energy.

Thursday

Energy savings is the big incentive for using Daylight Savings Time. And for most of the year, we do save electricity because the longer evenings mean less need for artificial lighting. However, during the winter, afternoon Daylight Saving Time advantage is offset by the morning's need for more light. While energy use does expand during the darkest months of the year, we still save electricity over the long haul. From 1945 to 1966, no one made a federal case about Daylight Saving Time. States and localities were free to observe it - or not. As you can imagine, this caused confusion for commerce and industry. Broadcasters and transportation companies had to publish new schedules every time a state or town decided to adopt or end Daylight Saving Time. Congress finally created one pattern across the country by passing the Uniform Time Act of 1966.

Friday

If you've been arriving an hour early for your appointments this week, it may be time to join the rest of the nation in Daylight Savings Time (you know, setting your clocks back an hour, which most people in the US did on Sunday). Actually, some areas of the country don't observe Daylight Savings Time, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Eastern Time Zone portion of Indiana, and most of Arizona. The US Department of Transportation concludes that we trim the nation's electricity usage by about one percent each day with Daylight Savings Time. For many people, Daylight Savings Time, which begins in April and ended last week, is a good time to check batteries in smoke detectors. Changing batteries twice a year will make sure the detectors work properly in case of a fire.