Brace yourself for a confusing weekend that could spill over into the work week. Daylight Savings Time begins the night of March 11th, instead of the first weekend of April, as has been customary.
Back in August of 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning this year; Daylight Saving Time is extended one month and begins for most of the United States at 2am on the Second Sunday in March to 2am on the First Sunday of November. On March 11th you will need to change your clock from 1am to 2am.
The biggest change will be with your electronic gizmos. If you have an older Windows or Mac computer or if you have an older mobile phones, chances are you're going to have to reset them manually.
“Most devices and operating system manufacturers have software updates that you can download and install on your device or computer that will automatically make up for the new daylight savings switch,” explains WOAI’s CyberBob.
Some experts call it a mini-Y2K bug, but with fewer problems. The biggest of which may being late for an appointment.
Some computer glitches may not show up until Monday, the first business day under the new daylight-saving schedule. But computing experts don't expect major problems to erupt.
"The average person, John and Jane computer user, is unlikely to see much of a problem, if anything," said David Keller, founder of Compu-Doctor.
The Secretary of Energy will report the impact of this change to Congress. Congress retains the right to resume the 2005 Daylight Saving Time schedule once the Department of Energy study is complete.
One of the biggest reasons we change our clocks to Daylight Saving Time (DST) is that it saves energy. Energy use and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes are directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up. Bedtime for most of us is late evening through the year. When we go to bed, most of us turn off the lights and TV.
In the average home, 25 percent of all the electricity we use is for lighting and small appliances, such as TVs, VCRs and stereos. A good percentage of energy consumed by lighting and appliances occurs in the evening when families are home. By moving the clock ahead one hour, we can cut the amount of electricity we consume each day.
For the U.S. and its territories, Daylight Saving Time is NOT observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Arizona. The Navajo Nation participates in the Daylight Saving Time policy, even in Arizona, due to its large size and location in three states.
Time-Change Timeline
1784: Ben Franklin writes a paper extolling the virtues of extending daylight in order to save candles.
1883: The U.S. and Canada listen to the cries of their railroad executives and adopt Standard Time.
1918: The U.S. establishes a daylight-saving time to run for seven months to conserve electricity during World War I. Once the war was over, the national law is dropped and daylight-saving time became a local option.
1942: During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt orders a year-round daylight-saving time, called "War Time," which runs for three years.
1944: For the next two decades, there is no national law. States and jurisdictions can choose whether to observe daylight-saving time and when to begin and end it.
1966: Congress passes the Uniform Time Act of 1966, establishing a beginning and end date for daylight-saving time, but leaves it up to local jurisdictions to decide whether to use it.
1973: Congress enacts the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act in response to the Arab oil embargo. Daylight-saving time is extended to eight months rather than the normal six. The Department of Transportation says the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil each day was saved.
1986: Daylight saving is moved from the last Sunday or April to the first Sunday of April. The end date is left the same.
1987: Chile delays its time change by one day to accommodate a papal visit.
2005: Congress passes the Energy Act of 2005 which starts daylight-saving time one month earlier in the spring and extends it one week later in the fall, beginning in 2007.
