March 7th, 2010

Daylight Savings Time 2010 all DST 2010 Changes.  Next Sunday we will lose an hour as Daylight Savings Time 2010 transpires.  At 2:00 am clocks will roll immediately to 3:00 and we will “gain” an hour of sunlight in the evening hours.

Not all of the United States particpates in DST.  Arizona, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands all remain on Standard Time all year long.  In addition, portions of Indiana also don’t recognize the date.

Back in the days of the railroad, there wasn’t a standard time.  Localities set time themselves, making it nearly impossible for railways to print out schedules.  Because of this, the government set time zones.  These are the zones we know and love now – East, Central, Mountain, and Pacific.  It then became much, much easier to print railway schedules and transact business through our large country.

Daylight Savings Time has always been a little controversial.  Legislation regarding the matter has varied throughout our nation’s history.  Most recently, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 passed by President George W. Bush extended DST. 

Despite the history of Daylight Savings Time, there’s not much agreement over whether or not DST actually saves net energy.  For some, the occurence is annoying. For others, they enjoy the extra hour of sunlight.

Source:

National Geographic

Photo Credit: Morguefile.com free photo