Rep. Fred Upton, R.-Mich., and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., proposed the daylight-saving shift as an amendment to the mammoth Energy Policy Act of 2005. The measure tops 1,700 pages and covers everything from nuclear power facilities to energy-efficient buildings. Both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives signed off on it before heading off on their August recess.
Under the bill, Americans in the 48 states that currently observe daylight-saving time (Arizona and Hawaii don't) would move their clocks ahead by an hour starting on the second Sunday of March, rather than the first Sunday of April. They would set clocks back an hour on the first Sunday of November, rather than the last Sunday of October. The changes would take effect beginning one year after the law's enactment or March 1, 2007, whichever date comes later.
The four-week extension could save the equivalent of 100,000 barrels of oil per day in energy use, the House Energy and Commerce committee claims.
The bill charges the Department of Energy with evaluating the precise effects on energy use and gives Congress the option of reverting to the 2005 daylight-saving time schedule after the study is complete.
The government's reasoning behind daylight saving time is that people will use less electricity for lighting if they have extra daylight later in the evening. The practice first took hold during World Wars I and II but quickly became optional for individual states during peacetime. Only with the Uniform Time Act of 1966 did the government establish a single time-change pattern for the whole country. Before this year's bill, that pattern had not changed since 1987.
Full article: (http://news.com.com/Daylight+saving+change+could+confuse+gadgets/2100-1041_3-5823792.html)
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