Daylight Saving Time What Is It And Why Do We Have It

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  It’s almost time for the clocks to go back one hour.   

  On the first Sunday in November, at 2 a.m., clocks in most of the United States and many other countries go back one hour and stay there for nearly four months in what is called standard time.  On the second Sunday in March, at 2 a.m., clocks move forward one hour to daylight saving time.   

  Daylight saving time has its roots in train schedules, but was implemented in Europe and the United States to save fuel and energy during World War I by extending daylight hours, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics. USA.   

  The US standardized the practice when it passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966. For about eight months of the year, much of the US and dozens of other countries observe daylight saving time.  And for the remaining four months, they follow standard time.   

  Pro Tip: It’s Daylight Savings Time, with a unique use of the term “savings” rather than “savings.”   

  In the US, states are not required by law to “go back” or “go forward”.  Hawaii and most of Arizona do not observe daylight saving time.   

  The twice-a-year change is annoying enough to lawmakers of all political stripes that the U.S. Senate passed legislation in March to make daylight saving time permanent.  It passed unanimously.  The bill still needs to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Joe Biden to become law.  If approved, the change would take effect before November 2023.   

  Benjamin Franklin may have been the first to mention daylight saving time in 1784 when he wrote a letter to the editor of the Paris Gazette.  But it was not widely used until more than a century later.