Did you know that some places around the world have one 23-hour day in the late winter or early spring and one 25-hour day in the winter?
Yes, you read it right!
The concept of daylight saving time is the reason behind this phenomenon. Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing the clocks typically by one hour during the warmer months to extend the daylight hours during the conventional working time. The clocks are turned back by one hour at the start of winter to resume to the standard time.
Daylight Saving Time is Now Permanent!
For years, there has been a constant debate on whether this twice-yearly changing of the clock is required or not. While some people believed it was a good move, some thought the opposite. To end this decades-long debate, the United States Senate has recently approved a bill to make daylight saving time permanent. The act called ‘sunshine protection act’ was unanimously voted.
Making daylight savings time permanent would mean Americans will not have to change the clocks twice a year as it will extend the sunrise and sunset throughout the year. This move is being welcomed by many experts who have been advocating for the same for years.
Here is why making daylight saving permanent is an excellent move!
1. Irrelevance of Energy Conservation
Energy conservation is said to be one of the prominent reasons why daylight saving time actually started. However, with time, the argument seems to be getting irrelevant. For instance, the reason behind advancing the clock by one hour was that people would spend more time in daylight and hence use fewer artificial lights.
But if we think closely, more daylight would mean more use of appliances such as fan and air conditioner, which would result in much more energy consumption. The same would be the case with the heaters in winter. So, keeping the daylight saving time permanent would help reduce these inconsistencies.
2. Consistent Schedule
If you move the clock forward and backward twice a year, there is a significant change in sunrise and sunset timings throughout the year. However, if the time signature is permanent, it would obviously become easy to schedule your day in a better way.
A consistent sleep schedule, in particular, is important for optimal health. And when the clock is shuffled by an hour during the spring, you would lose your one hour of sleep. This seems to be a small change, but might have severe health consequences as well as affect your productivity in the long run. Hence, permanent daylight saving time promises to be a far better option.
3. Changes in Time Zones
Daylight saving time is not limited to the United States only. It is implemented in several other countries as well. However, a majority of countries in the world—particularly the ones located near the equator—do not follow it.
Hence, if you want to plan a meeting across continents, it would be really tricky to schedule considering the difference in time zones as well as daylight saving time. If the daylight saving time is permanent across the year, it would mean it is the standard time for that particular region and hence would make planning and scheduling meetings across time zones more seamless.
In a nutshell, the actual purpose of daylight saving time just did not seem to stay relevant with the time. Thus, eliminating the hassle of changing the time twice a year and the challenges associated with it is definitely a good move!
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