Another Bush Legacy

A question that has come up at, among other places, my gym in London: why are there so many weeks between Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. and DST elsewhere? And wasn't the gap narrower before? The answer to the first question is, as it is in the case of so many of life's great riddles, George W. Bush. The answer to the second question is yes.

In 2005 the U.S. Congress passed an energy bill that included a monthlong extension of Daylight Saving Time. Controversial because the change's energy-saving potential was questioned by some experts, the law became effective in 2007. Instead of starting on the first Sunday in April, Daylight Saving Time begins in America on the second Sunday in March. DST ends on the first Sunday in November, one week later than it used to. The EU version of Daylight Saving Time -- European Summer Time -- runs from the last Sunday in March through the last Sunday in October.

Daylight Saving Time has been used in the U.S. and in many European countries since World War I. At that time, in an effort to conserve fuel needed to produce electric power, Germany and Austria began saving daylight at 11:00 p.m. on April 30, 1916, advancing the hands of the clock one hour until the following October. Other countries immediately adopted the change: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Tasmania. In Canada, Nova Scotia and Manitoba adopted it as well, with Britain following suit three weeks later, on May 21, 1916. In 1917, Australia and Newfoundland began saving daylight. The plan was not formally adopted in the U.S. until 1918.

So now you know.