The Myth of Daylight

This past weekend, we turned our clocks back as Daylight Saving time ended. Every year, when we "Spring Forward," I hear how people love that time of year because they like "getting an extra hour of daylight." I've had conversations with people who are convinced that we really do get an extra hour of sunshine each day, as if there are magic powers to thousands of people changing the time on their clocks simultaneously.

Granted, we do get more sunshine in spring and summer as the days get longer. But it's not because we changed the time on our clocks! When we change our clocks, the sun doesn't all of a sudden start shining for an hour longer - it just shines at different times of the day! I'm amazed by how seemingly intelligent people have this misconception that when we change our clocks, we alter the universe into giving us more sunshine.

But this always gets me thinking - why do we change our clocks? So I looked into it...

Daylight Saving Time is a way of getting more out of the longer summer days. By advancing the clocks by one hour during summer, the sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning when people are usually asleep anyway, at the benefit of the sun setting later in the evenings when people are awake. Basically, sunset and sunrise are one hour later than during normal time.

Supposedly, DST could save energy (less artificial light is needed during the evening) and make the country more efficient in addition to the pleasing effect of lighter evenings. But I'm not buying this. Nowadays, in our 24-hour society, people are using lights when they want. And summer days are longer anyway, so of course we'll be using less artificial light then.

Benjamin Franklin first suggested this in 1784, but it was first during World War I, in 1916 in several counties in Europe that DST was adopted. The US formally adopted ithe plan in 1918 and Daylight Saving Time was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. After the War ended, the law was considered so unpopular (mostly because people rose earlier and went to bed earlier than people do today) that it was repealed in 1919. Daylight Saving Time became a local option, and was continued in a few states and cities.

During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time, called “War Time,” from February 2, 1942 to September 30, 1945. After the war (from 1945 to 1966) there was no federal law regarding Daylight Saving Time, so it was again a local option. This caused confusion, especially for the broadcasting industry, railways, airlines, and bus companies.

By 1966, some 100 million Americans were observing Daylight Saving Time based on their local laws and customs. Congress decided to step in and end the confusion, and to establish one pattern across the country. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was signed into Public Law in 1966 by President Lyndon Johnson This created Daylight Saving Time, to begin on the last Sunday of April and to end on the last Sunday of October. Any State that wanted to be exempt from Daylight Saving Time could do so by passing a state law.

Under legislation enacted in 1986, Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. began at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and ended at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. beginning in 2007. The new start date will be the second Sunday in March (used to be the first Sunday in April), to the first Sunday in November (used to be the last Sunday in October).

A poll conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation indicated that Americans liked Daylight Saving Time because "there is more light in the evenings / can do more in the evenings." I think they, like so many people I talk to, think that longer days happen because we change our clocks - the magic clock theory, that the sun shines longer if we change our clocks.

Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country's electricity usage by a small but significant amount, about one percent each day, because less electricity is used for lighting and appliances. But I wonder, is this because of DST, or is it really because the days are naturally longer during Daylight Saving Time?

Another interesting factoid: Patrons of bars that stay open past 2:00 a.m. lose one hour of drinking time on the day when Daylight Saving Time springs forward one hour. This has led to annual problems in numerous locations, and sometimes even to riots. For example, in 1998, at a "time disturbance" (aka "Time Riot") in Athens, Ohio, site of Ohio University (which I attended), over 1,000 students and other late night partiers chanted "Freedom," as they threw liquor bottles at the police attempting to control the riot.

So, I say we get rid of Daylight Saving Time, tell it "Thanks for the memories" and move on in our "Open 24 hours" world and focus our attention on saving energy in different ways, like by utilizing more solar and wind power. But first, we'll need to educate the world about how the sun will shine the same amount of time it always does, whether we change our clocks or not!