Where did Daylight Saving Time originate from? After doing a little research, Stanley Homes, Custom Home Builder of Brevard & Volusia Counties did a little digging and found one answer. Thank goodness for the internet these days!
The idea of daylight saving time was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 during his stay in Paris. He published an essay titled “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” that proposed to economize the use of candles by rising earlier to make use of the morning sunlight. Although many believe that Benjamin Franklin invented DST, some say that modern DST was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson, an entomologist from New Zealand. Hudson presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society that proposed a two-hour shift forward in October and a two-hour shift back in March. He followed up his proposal with an article in 1898, and although there was interest in the idea, it was never followed through.
DST was first adopted to replace artificial lighting so they could save fuel for the war effort in Germany during World War I at 11:00pm (23:00) on April 30, 1916. It was quickly followed by Britain and many countries from both sides, including the United States. Many countries reverted back to standard time post-World War I, and it wasn’t until the next World War that DST would make its return to many countries in order to save vital energy resources for the war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted year-round DST in the United States, called “War Time” during World War II from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945. The law was enforced 40 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and during this time, time zones were called “Eastern War Time”, “Central War Time”, and “Pacific War Time”. After the surrender of Japan in mid-August 1945, the time zones were relabeled “Peace Time”. Daylight saving was first recognized as an energy saving aspect during World War II when Double Summer Time was applied in Britain which moved the clocks two hours ahead of GMT during the summer and one hour ahead of GMT during the winter.
Daylight saving time is now implemented in over seventy countries worldwide and affects over a billion people each year. Although many countries observe DST, the beginning and end dates are often different than the US. The European Union adopted the summer time period that was used in the United Kingdom for many years which begins on the last Sunday in March and ends on the last Sunday in October.
So now that you are aware of where it came from, set a reminder to SPRING FORWARD this Saturday night before you go to sleep!
Special thanks to http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/history.html for sharing the information.
East Coast, FL Home Builder Stanley Homes – Jason Stanley, OWNER Stanley Homes is one of the areas fastest growing new home builders. We specialize in affordable custom homes on the East Coast of Florida in areas including Melbourne, Fl., New Smyrna Beach, Fl., Suntree, Fl., Viera, Fl., Rockledge, Fl., Malabar, Fl., Titusville, Fl., and throughout Brevard & Volusia County, Fl. Call us 321-369-9160