By Chris Mac Kenzie
The Alpine Sun

     Spring Forward: Fall Back
     This phrase reminds us every spring to set our clocks and timers forward to match Daylight Saving Time. But this year is different. The phrase has a whole new meaning because in 2007 the time change is three weeks earlier.
It’s this Saturday night, March 10, instead of the first week in April and DST will last longer in the fall, providing even more daylight.
     This is not, however, a new idea. Ben Franklin suggested it back in the late 1700s, but nobody listened, at least until World War I darkened the horizon. In 1918, Congress, needing all available energy for war production, required the nation to use daylight saving time.
     It was an unpopular move so when the hostilities ended, the time change was declared optional with each state deciding for itself, thus creating endless confusion. Congress was convinced that it had saved energy so, with the start of World War II, we went back to daylight time again. This time it was a year round change. From Feb. 3, 1942 to Sept. 30, 1945 the nation operated on what was called War Time.
     In 1966 Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in order to end all this confusion. Most states accepted the change although Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa stayed on standard time. In that southern part of our hemisphere they didn’t need extra daylight. The Navajo Nation with part of its lands in three states, defied Arizona’s decision and joined its neighboring daylight saving states.
     Things still kept changing. In 1986 DST opening day moved from the last Sunday to the first Sunday in April and continued until late October.
     Finally on August 8, 2005 President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which set the dates of change for the United States to the second Sunday in March and ending on the first Sunday in November. The law took effect for the first time this year, 2007.
     Originally, 2 a.m. was chosen as the changeover time because it was the least disruptive. It prevented the confusion of switching back to yesterday as a midnight time would have required. With a 2 a.m. deadline, most people are asleep but it will get them up in time to attend church or accommodate early shift workers. Fewer trains and buses will be running, and it is late enough that most bars and restaurants are already closed.
     But DST also presented some other problems. In the European Union, many countries operate with Greenwich Mean time, so DST or Summer Time as it is called there, used 1 a.m. the last Sunday in March as the start time, and the last Sunday in October to end it. To further complicate things, in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed so DST occurs during our winter. Imagine, if you can, the problems of scheduling for the airlines.
     Bars with their obligatory 2 a.m. time to stop serving liquor lose an extra hour’s sale if they abide by the law. In practice many of them just stay open an extra hour in the fall.
     So Daylight Saving Time has had a controversial record. Many citizens profess to love it because the long, lighter evenings allow them to enjoy the outdoors, care for gardens, attend their kids’ sports events and more. But parents of young children find that getting the youngsters to bed in bright daylight is a big problem. Farmers also complain that livestock don’t change their sleeping and waking habits easily but workers do like being able to tend their crops later in the evening.
     Since all this was brought on by the need to save energy, how well has it worked. The average home uses about 25 percent of its electricity for lighting and small appliances particularly in the evening when families tend to be at home. Studies done as early as the 1970s show that DST saves about 1 percent every day, which in total, adds up to saving thousands of barrels of oil to create that electricity. Studies are continuing for more complete results.
     One study listed three major advantages for DST: It saves energy in the form of oil consumption; it saves lives, as fewer people must drive after dark when many accidents occur; it reduces crime as more people travel around and do their errands in daylight hours.
     And finally it provides a valid chance for firemen to remind householders to use the anniversaries to change the batteries in their smoke detectors! 

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