MOLINE, Ill. — Daylight saving, not called "daylight savings time" begins this Sunday. Although we will be losing an hour of sleep, we will gain an extra hour of sunlight until Nov. 6.
The idea of daylight saving time was originally proposed by Benjamin Franklin. He sent a letter to the editor of the Journal of Pairs as a joke to get people out of bed earlier in the morning in order to minimize the use of candles and lamp oil.
Fast forward to late 19th century and early 20th century — George Hudson and William Willett mentioned moving time up earlier in order to get more daylight. Hudson recommended moving clocks two hours ahead in October, and two hours back in March. Willett wanted to move the clock ahead 20 minutes every Sunday in the month of April, and then setting them back 20 minutes every Sunday in September.
These ideas didn’t get put into place until World War I. The German Empire, which lasted until 1918, was the first to set clocks ahead an hour. They did this in order to use less power for lighting and to save fuel for the war. Soon after, other countries shifted time forward an hour and then retreated once the war ended.
In 1918, the United States introduced a bill for a seasonal time shift, which only lasted seven months before it was repealed. During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt brought back the idea of daylight saving time, but renamed it to War Time, which started in February 1942 and lasted until September 1945.
It would be nearly 20 years until daylight saving time would be established. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act would establish daylight saving which would start on the last Sunday of April, and last until the last Sunday of October.
Today, a lot of people want to make daylight saving time year-round instead for eight months. During the 1970s oil embargo, we switched to daylight saving time for one full year from January 1974 to January 1975. One of the arguments of switching to full year daylight – by saving time we are saving energy. During this one year of daylight saving time, there was little energy saved, so we switched back to the April through October daylight saving.
In 2007, daylight saving was switched to what we know today, starting the second Sunday of March and lasting until the first Sunday of November.
As of today, over 70 countries acknowledge daylight saving, although not all of them call it that. In Europe, it is called summer time.
The debate of switching completely to daylight saving happens every year. It saves energy via lights, allows for more productivity, and is good for mental and physical health since we have more hours of sunlight. Drawbacks include an increase in air conditioning, heating and disrupting our sleep patterns.
Two states, Arizona and Hawaii, do not acknowledge daylight saving. Eighteen states have enacted legislation and past resolutions to have daylight saving all year long, but none have been passed.
How did daylight saving time begin?
Here's how the idea, jokingly made by Benjamin Franklin, is now used in over 70 countries worldwide.