Daylight Saving Time

DST is most commonly used in Temperate regions, due to the considerable variation in the amount of daylight versus darkness across the seasons in those regions.

Governments often tout it as an Energy Conservation measure, on the grounds that it allows more effective use of natural sunlight resource in summer time. Since there is less darkness in the "waking day", there is less use of electric lights. Some opponents reject this argument (see below, Criticism ).

Europeans commonly refer to the system as summer time: Irish Summer Time , British Summer Time , and European Summer Time . This is reflected in the time zones names as well, e.g., Central European Time (CET) becomes Central European Summer Time (CEST).

The word "summer" in this context includes most of spring after the spring equinox and nearly all of autumn (April through October). Likewise, the word "winter" here includes part of autumn and a few weeks in Spring (November through March). This varies by Time Zone , of course, and can change over time as well.

ORIGIN

It is sometimes asserted that DST was first proposed by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to the editors of the '' Journal Of Paris ''. Read the full text . However, the article was humorous; Franklin was not proposing DST, but rather that people should get up and go to bed earlier.

It was first seriously proposed by to adopt it despite considerable Lobbying .

The idea of daylight saving time was first put into practice by the German government during the First World War between April 30 and October 1 , 1916 . Shortly afterward, the United Kingdom followed suit, first adopting DST between May 21 and October 1 , 1916 . Then on March 19 , 1918 , the U.S. Congress established several Time Zone s (which were already in use by railroads and most cities since 1883) and made daylight saving time official (which went into effect on March 31 ) for the remainder of World War I. It was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. The law, however, proved so unpopular (mostly because people rose and went to bed earlier than in current times) that it was later repealed.

OBSERVATION OF DST

Daylight saving time is generally a temperate zone practice; day lengths in the Tropics do not vary enough to justify DST. Hawaii , the only U.S. state in the tropics, does not observe DST.

The amount of the time shift varies, but one hour is the most common. The dates of the beginning and ending of DST also vary by country. With a few exceptions, switchovers between standard time and daylight saving time generally occur in the early morning hours of a Sunday morning, presumably because doing so then causes less disruption than a change on a weekday would.

DST commonly begins in the northern hemisphere on either the first Sunday in April or the last Sunday in March, and ends on the last Sunday in October. However, beginning in 2007, the United States will begin observing DST on the second Sunday of March until the first Sunday in November, but if no energy savings can be shown from the extension after the U.S. Department Of Energy completes a study of impact of the change, Congress may revert back to the schedule set in 1986 under Section 110 of the Energy Policy Act Of 2005 . Since 2002, the European Union has fixed the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October as start and end dates (European Summer Time).

In the southern hemisphere, the beginning and ending dates are switched; therefore, the time difference between the United Kingdom and Chile may be three, four, or five hours, depending on the time of year.

USAGE AND HISTORY BY LOCATION

Africa

Egypt

Egypt operates Daylight-Saving Time between the last Friday in April and the last Thursday in September when the clocks are 3 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time ( UTC+3 ).

Namibia

Namibia Daylight Saving Time begins on the first Sunday in September, and ends on the first Sunday in April.

Asia

China

The People's Republic Of China experimented with DST from 1986, but abandoned it in the 1990s. The PRC now uses one universal time zone for all of the nation from Urumqi in the northwest to Fujian in the southeast; the size of the nation was a major factor why DST was not considered practical in China.

India

India used DST briefly during its wars with Pakistan and China.

Iran

Before the Islamic Revolution, DST was performed in Iran. After that it was abandoned till 1989, that was reactivated by the President hashemi Rafsanjani. DST in Iran started on the first day of Farvardin (21-22 March) and ended on the first day of Mehr (23-24 September), in the Iranian Calendar . In 2006, Iran does not observe DST {Link without Title} .

Israel

Israel observes DST starting on the last Friday before April 2 and ending on the Saturday (2AM Sunday) between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Until 2005, the schedule was variable – the only requirement was that there be at least 150 days per year of DST – and was set out each year by the Ministry of the Interior. {Link without Title}

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan voted to stop observing it in 2005.

Pakistan

Pakistan experimented with DST in 2002 going from +5:00 to +6:00. It has not used DST since then.

Australasia

Australia

In Australia , daylight saving time is a state/territory-based initiative. Some states/territories implement it and some do not.

New South Wales , Victoria , Tasmania , Australian Capital Territory and South Australia apply daylight saving time. Tasmania starts DST earlier than the others, usually near the beginning of October.

Western Australia , Northern Territory and Queensland do not have daylight saving. Queensland experimented with it for a year or two in the early 1970s, and again in the 1990s, but it was not popular and was abandoned.

See the Australian Time Zones article or this site for maps and further information on standard and daylight saving time in Australia.

New Zealand

See Also: Time in New Zealand

In New Zealand , daylight saving time begins at 2 A.M. (standard time) on the first Sunday in October each year, and ends at 2 A.M.(standard time) on the third Sunday of March.

Europe

European Summer Time

Information About

Daylight Saving Time