Friday, March 9, 2007

Daylight Saving Time Extended by Four Weeks in U.S. Starting in 2007

This Sunday, the second Sunday in March (March 11), at 2 a.m., Daylight Saving Time begins in the United States. This year, Daylight Saving Time is four weeks longer than last year due passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005. The Act, which extends Daylight Saving Time by four weeks from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November, is expected to save 10,000 barrels of oil each day due to reduced use of power by businesses during daylight hours.
Every spring we move our clocks one hour ahead and "lose" an hour during the night and each fall we move our clocks back one hour and "gain" an extra hour. But Daylight Saving Time (and not Daylight Savings Time with an "s") wasn't just created to confuse our schedules.
The phrase "Spring forward, fall back" helps people remember how Daylight Saving Time affects their clocks.
At 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March, we set our clocks forward one hour ahead of standard time ("spring forward"). We "fall back" at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November by setting our clock back one hour and thus returning to standard time.

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