By: Angela Yu

It’s November and it’s finally starting to feel like fall. The temperatures are dropping into the fifties and forties. The days are getting shorter. Daylight saving time ends on November 5 meaning we all have to set our clocks back an hour or fall back. Here are a couple things you may not know about daylight saving time (DST):

 

  • Benjamin Franklin proposed the idea of DST in 1784
  • DST was first enacted by Germany in 1916 during World War I to save fuel
  • The rest of Europe began to adopt DST and the U.S. adopted it in 1918
  • After the war, daylight saving time was abolished in the U.S. due to farmer complaining on the loss of daylight
  • In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt re-established DST for World War II
  • When WWII ended, U.S. towns could choose whether or not they wanted to observe DST
  • In 1966, the Uniform Time Act was enacted by Congress. The act stated that DST would begin on the last Sunday in April, and end on the last Sunday in October
  • Today’s DST timing was established in 2007 by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Daylight saving time would begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the second Sunday in November
  • Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST
  • Only about 40% of the world observes DST today
  • There is little evidence that DST actually saves energy, even though that was its original purpose

 

Sources:

https://www.livescience.com/56048-daylight-saving-time-guide.html

http://www.history.com/news/8-things-you-may-not-know-about-daylight-saving-time