Does anyone really care about Daylight Savings Time?

My cat and I were in a pretty good discussion this past Saturday, we often have coffee with my father.  The topic came up as to why we (the US) still uses Daylight Savings Time (DST)?  In this time of technological marvel, does turning the clock ahead / back have any advantages?

For the longest time I thought it was done to support the farmers.  I was wrong.  As my well read feline pointed out – can a cow read a clock?  Does Elsie the cow really care what time it is?  The answer quite simply is no.  This got me to look up the history of Daylight Saving Time (not savings – the misrepresentation is intended in the title.), why it was started and how it came to be.

Daylight Saving Time is also known as “Summer Time” in Europe.  I actually prefer that name; sounds more fun.

There are numerous sites that will provide a detailed history, my favorite is a summary site for the book “Seize the Daylight.”  While he didn’t invent DST, good ‘ol Uncle Ben (Benjamin Franklin) is credited with getting the wheels turning.  His proposal was changing sleep schedules to save candles, but not changing the time itself.

The dubious honor of being known as the “Father” of daylight saving time goes to Mr. William Willett.  He proposed that England should move it’s clocks forward by 80 minutes between April and October so more people could enjoy the sunshine. Unfortunately, the British Parliament felt different, and Mr. Willett died without seeing his idea come to fruition.

So how then do we have DST?  War.  War brings out the worst, and best in populations.  In an effort to conserve electricity – Germany adopted the system in 1916; thereby saving electricity so it could be used elsewhere – like the war effort (W.W.I).  Shortly after, Britain and the USA (1918) adopted similar cost saving measures.

So what about Elsie?  As it turns out, the shifting of the clocks, while great for industry; wreaked havoc on America’s farmers.  Farmers had to wait an extra hour for dew to evaporate before they could harvest.  Elsie’s internal clock worked off the sun, so she wasn’t about to get milked early, she didn’t care about the farmers deliveries and schedule.  In 1919, congress overrode President Wilson’s veto – and DST was no more in this great land.

When W.W.II started, pretty much all countries on both sides of the war adopted DST to save vital resources for the war effort. Elsie be damned – the industrial complex took control until after the war. During WWII, there was year round DST, called “War Time.”  So instead of Eastern DST, we had Eastern War Time.  After the war, DST was once again kicked to the curb and Elsie was once again giving her milk, on her time.

Congress finally did away with the confusion and passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966.  There is both research to support DST (Study showed a savings of 10,000 barrels of oil each day in early ’70s); and to refute the energy savings (California Energy Commission discovered that extending DST had little to no effect on energy use- 2007).

As it turns out, farms and schoolchildren had nothing to do with its implementation.  It was all about energy…whey-a-a-at?  Yep; they were green energy conserving, tree loving individuals; they just didn’t know it.  Today energy conservation is in vogue.  I wonder, with our constant war footing, when will the industrial complex decide to shift back to war time?  It may only be a matter of time.  Speaking of energy conservation, December 14th is World Energy Conservation day.  How do you plan on celebrating?  I myself will probably sleep in, to save electricity of course.

While generally in favor of DST (‘cmon – who doesn’t like a little chaos when we forget to move the clock?).  I often find myself confused as to what type of time I’m in.  “Dr. D time” isn’t a recognized time zone, except by my immediate family.

1. DST, or Summer Time as it is called in Europe is when the clocks jump ahead, i.e. in the summer.  On the day of the change from standard time to DST, the clock jumps from 1:59:59 > 3:00:00 and the time between 2:00:00 – 2:59:59 is skipped.  That’s right no deposit – no return; it’s gone.
2. Standard Time, or Winter Time as it is called in Europe is when the clocks are set back, i.e. in the winter.  On the day of the change from DST to Standard time, the clock goes from 1:59:59 DST to 1:00:00 standard and the time frame is repeated.  During this transition period, it’s a good practice to document exactly which time is being used between the hours of 1:00:00 and 1:59:59.  So if you do something at 1:15 am, you’d document it as 1:15:00 AM (standard / DST).

Got it?  Good.  For more good reads on this discussion, check out the following links:

• Eight things you may not know about DST.
• History of DST – Time and Date.
• North American Time Zones.
• Transition into DST / Transition out of DST.

What say you?  Should we continue in the bi-annual chaos?  I use it every spring when I “forget” and show up to work late…Just kidding boss!