Daylight Saving Time begins in 2022 this weekend on Sunday, March 13 when clocks “spring forward” an hour, meaning we get one less hour of sleep overnight.
While we’ve enjoyed slightly more light each day since the winter solstice on Dec. 21, the big change will be triggered at 2 a.m. on Sunday with the shift to Daylight Saving Time as clocks move head to 3 a.m. The sun will set at around 6 p.m. in New Jersey on Saturday. The following day, after the time shift, sunset is at 7:01 p.m. Daylight Saving Time always begins the second Sunday in March and ends the first Sunday in November.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, suggested Wednesday during a Congressional hearing that the time changes should end.
“While I have yet to decide whether I support a permanent switch to Standard or Daylight Saving Time, it’s time we stop changing our clocks,” Pallone said in a statement to opening the hearing. “I believe that any justifications for springing forward and falling back are either outdated or are outweighed by the serious health and economic impacts we now know are associated with the time changes.”
What states in the U.S. don’t observe Daylight Saving Time?
While most states change clocks for Daylight Saving Time, there are some holdouts.
Most of Arizona and all of Hawaii does not observe Daylight Saving Time. In addition, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands do not participate in Daylight Saving Time. There is a proposal in Congress, called the Sunshine Protection Act, to make Daylight Saving Time year round. It has languished for years without being passed, though.
Multiple bills have been introduced in the state legislature in New Jersey that would establish Daylight Saving as the official time year-round, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. None of have been acted on, but any bill would need authorization of the U.S. Congress to be implemented as federal law does not allow year-round Daylight Saving Time. Nineteen states, including Delaware, have either passed resolutions or passed legislation in the past four years calling for permanent Daylight Saving Time, the NCSL said.
Earlier this week U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) called the practice of turning back clocks when Daylight Saving Time ends in November a “nuisance and not smart policy.”
A letter to the editor published Tuesday in the Washington Post, on other other hand, argued that “Daylight Saving does not save daylight. Rather, it takes daylight from early birds and awards it to night owls.”
What role did Benjamin Franklin play in Daylight Saving Time?
Benjamin Franklin is credited with coming up with the notion of making better use of the day’s light. While visiting Paris in 1784, Franklin came to believe that sunlight was being wasted during the day. In a joking letter to the editors of a Paris newspaper, Franklin proposed a tax on all Parisians whose windows were closed after sunrise.
He believed that this would “encourage the economy of using sunshine instead of candles,” according to Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time.
What is the origin of modern Daylight Saving Time?
During World War I, the German Empire hatched an idea that most resembles the Daylight Saving Time that we observe today.
Believing that it would conserve fuel during the war, the German Empire in 1916 became the first to switch its clocks to save daylight.
When did the U.S. adopt Daylight Saving Time?
In 1918, the U.S. enacted the first Daylight Saving Time law as a way to conserve fuel. It was reintroduced during World War II.
In 1973, President Nixon signed into law the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, which made DST permanent in the U.S. This helped reduce confusion throughout the country with some regions of the U.S. participating in the practice and some regions opting out.
Wasn’t Daylight Saving Time created for farmers?
A common misconception is that Daylight Saving Time was implemented as a way to improve farming practices. However, this is a myth. During the early adoption of the practice in the U.S., farmers were among the biggest opponents of Daylight Saving Time, believing that it would disrupt their farming practices.
Does Daylight Saving Time actually conserve energy?
Not really, even though that was cited in the 2005 Energy Policy Act that extended Daylight Saving Time by a month
A study three years later by the U.S. Department of Energy determined that the extended daylight throughout the year of 2005 saved a mere .5% in electricity use per day and only about .3% over the entire year.
Anyway you look at it, our days are going to get longer so we’ll have more time to enjoy the great outdoors.
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