WASHINGTON – Daylight Saving Time is here again, but rather than getting that precious extra hour of sleep from “falling back,” we’ll be losing an hour of sleep come Saturday night.
Daylight Saving Time begins 2 a.m., Sunday March 11, so don’t forget to “spring forward” before heading to bed Saturday evening.
The change allows us to use less energy in lighting our homes by taking advantage of the longer and later daylight hours.
Here some facts about Daylight Saving Time:
- There is no “s” on Daylight Saving Time.
- During the eight-month period, the names of each time zone in the U.S. changes, as well. Eastern Standard Time becomes Eastern Daylight Time.
- Daylight Saving Time was instituted during World War I in order to save energy for war production.
- During World War II, the federal government mandated all states to observe the time change.
- In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act, which standardized the length of Daylight Saving Time.
- The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended Daylight Saving time by four weeks.
- It’s difficult to determine energy savings during Daylight Saving Time and it is possible that little or no energy is saved.
- Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
- In 1996, the European Union standardized European Summer Time, which is their version of Daylight Saving Time.
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