Daylight saving time is arriving three weeks early this year.
At 2 a.m., on March 11, we will turn our clocks ahead one hour – and yes we’ll feel groggy and doe-eyed on Monday…but just think: no more leaving the office in the dark.
In August 2005, congress passed the Energy Policy Act, which extends DST by four weeks this year. Used to be we’d turn the clocks ahead one hour on the first sunday in April and then back on the last Sunday in October. Now, it’s Spring forward on the second sunday in March and Fall back on the first sunday in November. That’s four extra weeks of evening light.
The Department of Energy pushed for this extension of DST because they believe it will reduce the use of electricity and appliances. Of course, they have to do the research to prove this — and if it doesn’t make a difference, the government will change things back next year.
So turn off the lights, television, and lap top. Get outside and behold a sunny sunset.
(Course, this could mean headaches for tech gadgets that rely on standard time changes…click here.)
This entry was written by , posted on February 27, 2007 at 3:20 pm, filed under Home. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
That is the best news EVER!
Wow. And just when I was nearing the end of my rope. Winter blues be gone – please sun, come back soon – I’m dying here ! Has any other S.A.D. person out there noticed this winter particularly depressing & long? Can’t we just change those clocks permanently?
yes girls i completely agree. night should be banished. forever. except in Iceland, where sometimes they miss it.
are you sure this isn’t a conspiracy from the caffeine crowd? maybe the government is trying to steal an hour from us each year, eventually it might be a whole day. Actually, I am farmer and will miss that sunlight in the morning while plowing the fields…not..
no I think we change the whole deal. work during dark hours, and party during the light. I have to some almost 24 hour light days in Alaska and Norway, and it is cool closing bars at 2 in the morning and the sun hasn’t quite set yet.
Arizona doesn’t observe DST except in the Navajo Nation. WTF?
Since it’s so damn arbitrary, why can’t Congress recalibrate the daylight hours to match the summer season so that the sun goes down around 8:30?
Y’all stayed tuned…esp E.B. and other S.A.D. folks out there — I’m writing a piece on the science of Spring fever, and it turns out this whole DST change is *bad* news for those suffering from winter doldrums…according to our bio clocks, it’s the morning sun that makes the difference in terms of our mood elevation – not the evening as so many think. So this change in DST is extending the darkness in the morning — I’m sorry to say. Save on electricity? At the expense of our depression? You decide.