Daylight savings time

Sunny

Sunny

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Location
Maryland
Today we had to set our clocks one hour ahead. It occurred to me that I don't know if the whole world does that, or just here in America. Do you have DST where you live?

If so, how do you feel about it? Many people consider it a large nuisance.
 

Yup, we have it here...just finished resetting a dozen clocks, wristwatches, etc. I suppose there are some good reasons for this time change, but I can't think of any of real value.
 
I like digital watches and clocks EXCEPT when I have to reset them.

We didn't change them in Arizona and that was good.
 
California has DST, I don't like changing time settings, but I guess if I went ahead and retired it wouldn't matter as much.
 
I recently updated my 40+ year old clock radio with one that sets the time all by itself. It even switched to DST on its on this morning... I got a kick out of that.
 
We have the time changing thing here, and it's nothing but a pain in the you know what. There's a bill in our legislature that if passed would have us stay on daylight time all the time. I hope it passes. I very much like that it gives us more daylight time in the evenings.
 
I think it's got something to do with the safety of kids waiting for the school bus on winter mornings.
 
I always forget how many clocks we have in this house until I have to go around and reset all of them! We have an electric clock by our bed that automatically switches to DST (it also has a battery backup). Now how does it know when to do that? It also changes automatically in the Fall when the time changes!
 
I was once on a small Caribbean island called Bonaire on a scuba diving trip. It is about 11 degrees north latitude. The return flight occurred right after we (in the USA) switched back to standard time. I was concerned about not being off by an hour and inquired about whether they had a time change or not. They don't as they don't have a need for it and don't understand what the heck that is all about... they basically have 12 hours of daylight all year round since they are so close to the equator.

In the Atlanta, GA area (about 33 degrees latitude) we get roughly 12 +/- 2 hours of daylight throughout the year and the sun is due south at about 12:45pm EST. How much does the daylight hours vary where you live and how far off of 12 noon is it when the sun is due south/north? If I am remembering my history lessons correctly, in the USA every city set it's own unique time of day based on 12 noon being due south and it was the timing/schedule requirements of the railroads in the 1800s that caused us to operate with a universal time system.
 


[h=2]What Is the Point of Daylight Savings Time?[/h]

Every year, we are required to change our clocks back one hour in fall and an hour forward in the spring/summertime. Even though we all must do this, many are not aware of the reasons for it. The first people to propose the idea of daylight savings were Benjamin Franklin, George Vernon Hudson, and William Willett. These men all introduced the idea around 1784. However, the first official and established use of this idea occurred during World War II thanks to Germany and its allies that implemented changing the clock in order to conserve coal. Once the other nations, such as the U.S. and European nations, saw the positive results from this clock-shifting idea, they adopted the idea as well. Many reasons have been thrown out about the purpose of daylight savings time (DST); however some of them are not true. For example, it is not true that it was created for farmers. The real reasons for daylight savings time are quite logical. The main reason for daylight savings time is to make good use of daylight and save energy. In the summer, our clocks are moved forward to extend an hour of daylight to the evening. As the Germans discovered, energy is saved when the clocks are shifted. The idea is that if the sun is out "longer" than normal, people will use natural light and turn on their home lights later. Therefore, less electricity will be used. In 1975, a study was done by the US Department of Transportation that estimated DST would decrease the country's electricity consumption by 1% from March to April. One year later, other sources said that this reduction was insignificant. This is due to the fact that many people used air conditioning and other home appliances while they were home. Also, those who woke up early in the morning consumed lots of energy because there was less sunlight in the morning.

Moreover, during the wintertime, DST is less advantageous to many people and businesses that need more light in the early morning because the sun rises later. Even the logic behind DST was that it would save energy all year round. However, the least energy is saved during the winter's darkest months: November, December, January, and February. Furthermore, the entire state of Indiana did not follow daylight savings time until 2008. After doing a study, of residential electricity consumption in the state, they found that the usage of electricity was actually increased by a percent during DST. Therefore, it counteracted the original purpose of DST which was for saving energy. This is due to the increased usage of air-conditioning during the hot summer days.

Lastly, it is interesting to know that DST depends on where you live in the world. For those who live near the equator, the hours of day and night are equally about 12 hours each. Yet, the closer one lives to the North or South Pole, the longer they have daylight during the summer. For that matter, DST during the summer is not beneficial in the tropical areas. Also, nations close to the equator do not shift their clocks at all.

Still a lousy idea Ben Franklin.


 
Having watched my son's 9 month old grandson overnight, during the change this weekend I would have to say stop doing this to me.. ^.^
 
Quite honestly, I don't understand why we switch times. I think the planet goes right doing its planetary work if it's 2 or 3 AM. You still have the same amount of dark and sun without changing clocks. If it's light outside ,are you going to turn on your lamps, because it's 8 or 9 PM? And it reminds me of the days before standard time, when noon was directly over your neck of the woods. Each country is changing clocks at different times.
I do use the Oct. shift to change batteries in smoke detectors.
 
We no longer have clocks. All of our digital devices changed the time automatically. Good thing because I had forgotten about it.
 

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