It seemed so simple and familiar: Spring forward, fall back. For 20 years, that’s what we — and our technology — have done with our clocks on the first Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October. But no longer. When few people were paying attention, Congress lengthened daylight saving time by four weeks in the name of energy efficiency. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 was signed by President George W. Bush on August 8, 2005. The Act changed the time change dates for Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. Beginning in 2007, DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November. The change takes effect this year — on March 11 — and is supposed to save us untold barrels of oil by extending daylight hours.
But the change is not without some potential problems. Unless changed by one method or another, many systems such as Palm devises will remain programmed to read the calendar and start daylight saving time on its old date in April, not its new one in March. As IBM notes on its Web site: “Any time-sensitive functions could be impacted by this change… It is important for users to assess their environments and develop appropriate plans for applying the necessary changes.”
So this Saturday night before you go to bed, remember to set your clocks ahead one hour. Sure, you’ll be losing an hour of sleep, but you’re, uh, helping save oil. And if you’d like to read up on the history of Daylight Saving Time, you’ll find it and more here.