Daylight saving time Rationale and original ide
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Daylight saving time
Rationale and original idea
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The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin (portrait at right) during his sojourn as an American delegate in Paris in 1784, in an essay, "An Economical Project." Read more about Franklin's essay.
The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time (called "Summer Time" in many places in the world) is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Countries have different change dates. Glide your cursor over the map to see how changing the clocks affects different latitudes.
If you live near the equator, day and night are nearly the same length (12 hours). But elsewhere on Earth, there is much more daylight in the summer than in the winter. The closer you live to the North or South Pole, the longer the period of daylight in the summer. Thus, Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) is usually not helpful in the tropics, and countries near the equator generally do not change their clocks.
If you live near the equator, day and night are nearly the same length (12 hours). But elsewhere on Earth, there is much more daylight in the summer than in the winter. The closer you live to the North or South Pole, the longer the period of daylight in the summer. Thus, Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) is usually not helpful in the tropics, and countries near the equator generally do not change their clocks.
In the summer, people who rose before the sun rises used more energy in the morning than if DST were not in effect. However, although 70 percent of Americans rose before 7:00 a.m., this waste of energy from having less sunlight in the morning was more than offset by the savings of energy that results from more sunlight in the evening.
In the winter, the afternoon Daylight Saving Time advantage is offset for many people and businesses by the morning's need for more lighting. In spring and fall, the advantage is generally less than one hour. So, the rationale was that Daylight Saving Time saves energy for lighting in all seasons of the year, but it saves least during the four darkest months of winter (November, December, January, and February), when the afternoon advantage is offset by the need for lighting because of late sunrise.
In addition, less electricity was thought to be used because people are home fewer hours during the "longer" days of spring and summer. Most people plan outdoor activities in the extra daylight hours. When people are not at home, they don't turn on the appliances and lights.
Although a 1976 report by the National Bureau of Standards disputed the 1975 U.S. Department of Transportation study, and found that DST-related energy savings were insignificant, the DOT study continued to influence decisions about Daylight Saving Time.
The argument in favor of saving energy swayed Indiana, where until 2005, only about 16 percent of counties observed Daylight Saving Time. Based on the DOT study, advocates of Indiana DST estimated that the state’s residents would save over $7 million in electricity costs each year. Now that Indiana has made the switch, however, researchers have found the opposite to be the case. Scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara, compared energy usage over the course of three years in Indiana counties that switched from year-round Standard Time to DST. They found that Indianans actually spent $8.6 million more each year because of Daylight Saving Time, and increased emissions came with a social cost of between $1.6 million and $5.3 million per year. Commentators have theorized that the energy jump is due to the increased prevalence of home air conditioning over the past 40 years, in that more daylight toward the end of a summer’s day means that people are more likely to use their air conditioners when they come home from work.
However, the Indiana research findings don’t necessarily apply elsewhere. In cooler climates, for example, energy savings may well occur.
In addition, some argue that there is a public health benefit to Daylight Saving Time, as it decreases traffic accidents. Several studies in the U.S. and Great Britain have found that the DST daylight shift reduces net traffic accidents and fatalities by close to one percent. An increase in accidents in the dark mornings is more than offset by the evening decrease in accidents.
However, recent research indicates that pedestrian fatalities from cars soar at 6:00 p.m. during the weeks after clocks are set back in the fall. Walkers are three times as likely to be hit and killed by cars right after the switch than in the month before DST ends. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, who found a 186 percent jump in the risk of being killed by a car for every mile walked, speculate that drivers go through an adjustment period when dusk arrives earlier. Although the risk drops in the morning, because there are fewer pedestrians at 6:00 a.m., the lives saved in the morning don’t offset those lost in the evening.
This research corroborates a 2001 study by researchers at the University of Michigan, which found that 65 pedestrians were killed by car crashes in the week before DST ended, and 227 pedestrians were killed in the week following the end of DST.
There may also be an economic benefit to DST, as daylight evening hours encourage people to go out and shop, potentially spurring economic growth.
Idea of Daylight Saving Time
Some of Franklin's friends, inventors of a new kind of oil lamp, were so taken by the scheme that they continued corresponding with Franklin even after he returned to America.
The idea was first advocated seriously by London builder William Willett (1857-1915) in the pamphlet, "Waste of Daylight" (1907), that proposed advancing clocks 20 minutes on each of four Sundays in April, and retarding them by the same amount on four Sundays in September. As he was taking an early morning a ride through Petts Wood, near Croydon, Willett was struck by the fact that the blinds of nearby houses were closed, even though the sun was fully risen. When questioned as to why he didn't simply get up an hour earlier, Willett replied with typical British humor, "What?" In his pamphlet "The Waste of Daylight" he wrote:
"Everyone appreciates the long, light evenings. Everyone laments their shortage as Autumn approaches; and everyone has given utterance to regret that the clear, bright light of an early morning during Spring and Summer months is so seldom seen or used."
Early British laws and lax observance
About one year after Willett began to advocate daylight saving (he spent a fortune lobbying), he attracted the attention of the authorities. Robert Pearce - later Sir Robert Pearce - introduced a bill in the House of Commons to make it compulsory to adjust the clocks. The bill was drafted in 1909 and introduced in Parliament several times, but it met with ridicule and opposition, especially from farming interests. Generally lampooned at the time, Willett died on March 4, 1915.
Following Germany's lead, Britain passed an act on May 17, 1916, and Willett's scheme of adding 80 minutes, in four separate movements was put in operation on the following Sunday, May 21, 1916. There was a storm of opposition, confusion, and prejudice. The Royal Meteorological Society insisted that Greenwich time would still be used to measure tides. The parks belonging to the Office of Works and the London County Council decided to close at dusk, which meant that they would be open an extra hour in the evening. Kew Gardens, on the other hand, ignored the daylight saving scheme and decided to close by the clock.
In Edinburgh, the confusion was even more marked, for the gun at the Castle was fired at 1:00 p.m. Summer Time, while the ball on the top of the Nelson monument on Calton Hill fell at 1:00 Greenwich Time. That arrangement was carried on for the benefit of seamen who could see it from the Firth of Forth. The time fixed for changing clocks was 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday.
There was a fair bit of opposition from the general public and from agricultural interests who wanted daylight in the morning, but Lord Balfour came forward with a unique concern:
"Supposing some unfortunate lady was confined with twins and one child was born 10 minutes before 1 o'clock. ... the time of birth of the two children would be reversed. ... Such an alteration might conceivably affect the property and titles in that House."
After World War I, Parliament passed several acts relating to Summer Time. In 1925, a law was enacted that Summer Time should begin on the day following the third Saturday in April (or one week earlier if that day was Easter Day). The date for closing of Summer Time was fixed for the day after the first Saturday in October.
The energy saving benefits of Summer Time were recognized during World War II, when clocks in Britain were put two hours ahead of GMT during the summer. This became known as Double Summer Time. During the war, clocks remained one hour ahead of GMT throughout the winter
Opposition and obstacles
Many people intensely dislike Daylight Saving Time. Frequent complaints are the inconvenience of changing many clocks and adjusting to a new sleep schedule. For most people, this is a mere nuisance, but some people with sleep disorders find this transition very difficult. Indeed, there is evidence that the severity of auto accidents increases and work productivity decreases as people adjust to the time change.
Some argue that the energy savings touted by DST is offset by the energy used by those living in warm climates to cool their homes during summer afternoons and evenings. Similarly, the argument can be made that more evening hours of light encourage people to run errands and visit friends, thus consuming more gasoline.
Protests are also put forth by people who wake at dawn, or whose schedules are otherwise tied to sunrise, such as farmers. Canadian poultry producer Marty Notenbomer notes, "The chickens do not adapt to the changed clock until several weeks have gone by, so the first week of April and the last week of October are very frustrating for us."
Many parents express concern that Daylight Saving Time results in early morning dangers, as children are less visible as they cross roads and wait for school buses in the darkness.
In Israel, ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Jews have campaigned against Daylight Saving Time because they recite Selichot penitential prayers in the early morning hours during the Jewish month of Elul.
A writer in 1947 noted, "I don't really care how time is reckoned so long as there is some agreement about it, but I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind. I even object to the implication that I am wasting something valuable if I stay in bed after the sun has risen. As an admirer of moonlight I resent the bossy insistence of those who want to reduce my time for enjoying it. At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy and wise in spite of themselves." (Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947, XIX, Sunday.)
Sometimes people recommend a "compromise," wherein clocks would be set one-half hour forward year round. While this may initially sound appealing, it is not a good solution. In the winter months, when daylight saving is not occurring, our clock is divided such that noon should be the middle of the day (although since time zones are so wide, this does not always happen). In the summer, when there are more daylight hours, we want to shift a full hour to the evening.
Some countries set their clocks to fractional time zones. For example, Kathmandu, Nepal is 5:45 hours ahead of Universal Time, and Calcutta (Kolkatta), India is 5:30 ahead. This is not an attempt to compromise and have half Daylight Saving Time year-round, but rather an adjustment made because the countries straddle international time zones.
First there was standard time.
For millennia, people have measured time based on the position of the sun; it was noon when the sun was highest in the sky. Sundials were used well into the Middle Ages, at which time mechanical clocks began to appear. Cities would set their town clock by measuring the position of the sun, but every city would be on a slightly different time.
The time indicated by the apparent sun on a sundial is called Apparent Solar Time, or true local time. The time shown by the fictitious sun is called Mean Solar Time, or local mean time when measured in terms of any longitudinal meridian.
[For more information about clocks, see A Walk through Time.]
Standard time begins in Britain
Britain was the first country to set the time throughout a region to one standard time. The railways cared most about the inconsistencies of local mean time, and they forced a uniform time on the country. The original idea was credited to Dr. William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828) and was popularized by Abraham Follett Osler (1808-1903). The Great Western Railway was the first to adopt London time, in November 1840. Other railways followed suit, and by 1847 most (though not all) railways used London time. On September 22, 1847, the Railway Clearing House, an industry standards body, recommended that GMT be adopted at all stations as soon as the General Post Office permitted it. The transition occurred on December 1 for the L&NW, the Caledonian, and presumably other railways; the January 1848 Bradshaw's lists many railways as using GMT. By 1855, the vast majority of public clocks in Britain were set to GMT (though some, like the great clock on Tom Tower at Christ Church, Oxford, were fitted with two minute hands, one for local time and one for GMT). The last major holdout was the legal system, which stubbornly stuck to local time for many years, leading to oddities like polls opening at 08:13 and closing at 16:13. The legal system finally switched to GMT when the Statutes (Definition of Time) Act took effect; it received the Royal Assent on August 2, 1880.
Standard time in the US
Standard time in time zones was instituted in the U.S. and Canada by the railroads on November 18, 1883. Prior to that, time of day was a local matter, and most cities and towns used some form of local solar time, maintained by a well-known clock (on a church steeple, for example, or in a jeweler's window). The new standard time system was not immediately embraced by all, however. (The train at right is a Union locomotive used during the American Civil War, photo ca. 1861-1865.)
The first man in the United States to sense the growing need for time standardization was an amateur astronomer, William Lambert, who as early as 1809 presented to Congress a recommendation for the establishment of time meridians. This was not adopted, nor was the initial suggestion of Charles Dowd of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 1870. Dowd revised his proposal in 1872, and it was adopted virtually unchanged by U.S. and Canadian railways eleven years later.
Detroit kept local time until 1900, when the City Council decreed that clocks should be put back 28 minutes to Central Standard Time. Half the city obeyed, while half refused. After considerable debate, the decision was rescinded and the city reverted to sun time. A derisive offer to erect a sundial in front of the city hall was referred to the Committee on Sewers. Then, in 1905, Central Standard Time was adopted by city vote.
It remained for a Canadian civil and railway engineer, Sandford Fleming, to instigate the initial effort that led to the adoption of the present time meridians in both Canada and the U.S. Time zones were first used by the railroads in 1883 to standardize their schedules. Canada's Sir Sandford Fleming (posing at left, at the driving the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Sandford Fleming wears the stovepipe hat and is to the left of the man with the hammer) also played a key role in the development of a worldwide system of keeping time. Trains had made the old system - where major cities and regions set clocks according to local astronomical conditions - obsolete. Fleming advocated the adoption of a standard or mean time and hourly variations from that according to established time zones. He was instrumental in convening the 1884 International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington, at which the system of international standard time - still in use today - was adopted.
Although the large railway systems in U.S. and Canada adopted standard time at noon on November 18, 1883, it was many years before such time was actually used by the people themselves.
The use of standard time gradually increased because of its obvious practical advantages for communication and travel. Standard time in time zones was established by U.S. law with the Standard Time Act of 1918, enacted on March 19. Congress adopted standard time zones based on those set up by the railroads, and gave the responsibility to make any changes in the time zones to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the only federal transportation regulatory agency at the time. When Congress created the Department of Transportation in 1966, it transferred the responsibility for the time laws to the new department.
Time zone boundaries have changed greatly since their original introduction and changes still occasionally occur. The Department of Transportation conducts rulemakings to consider requests for changes. Generally, time zone boundaries have tended to shift westward. Places on the eastern edge of a time zone can effectively move sunset an hour later (by the clock) by shifting to the time zone immediately to their east. If they do so, the boundary of that zone is locally shifted to the west; the accumulation of such changes results in the long-term westward trend. The process is not inexorable, however, since the late sunrises experienced by such places during the winter may be regarded as too undesirable. Furthermore, under the law, the principal standard for deciding on a time zone change is the "convenience of commerce." Proposed time zone changes have been both approved and rejected based on this criterion, although most such proposals have been accepted
Early adoption in law
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 took time by the forelock, and began saving daylight at 11:00 p.m. on April 30, 1916, by advancing the hands of the clock one hour until the following October. Other countries immediately adopted this 1916 action: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey, and Tasmania. 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. 'An Act to preserve daylight and provide standard time for the United States' was enacted on March 19, 1918. [See law]It both established standard time zones and set summer DST to begin on March 31, 1918. Daylight Saving Time was observed for seven months in 1918 and 1919. After the War ended, the law proved so unpopular (mostly because people rose earlier and went to bed earlier than people do today) that it was repealed in 1919 with a Congressional override of President Wilson's veto. Daylight Saving Time became a local option, and was continued in a few states, such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and in some cities, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time, called "War Time," from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945. [See law] From 1945 to 1966, there was no federal law regarding Daylight Saving Time, so states and localities were free to choose whether or not to observe Daylight Saving Time and could choose when it began and ended. This understandably caused confusion, especially for the broadcasting industry, as well as for railways, airlines, and bus companies. Because of the different local customs and laws, radio and TV stations and the transportation companies had to publish new schedules every time a state or town began or ended Daylight Saving Time.
On January 4, 1974, President Nixon signed into law the Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act of 1973. Then, beginning on January 6, 1974, implementing the Daylight Saving Time Energy Act, clocks were set ahead. On October 5, 1974, Congress amended the Act, and Standard Time returned on October 27, 1974. Daylight Saving Time resumed on February 23, 1975 and ended on October 26, 1975.
Inconsistent use in the U.S.
In the early 1960s, observance of Daylight Saving Time was quite inconsistent, with a hodgepodge of time observances, and no agreement about when to change clocks. The Interstate Commerce Commission, the nation's timekeeper, was immobilized, and the matter remained deadlocked. Many business interests were supportive of standardization, although it became a bitter fight between the indoor and outdoor theater industries. The farmers, however, were opposed to such uniformity. State and local governments were a mixed bag, depending on local conditions.
Efforts at standardization were encouraged by a transportation industry organization, the Committee for Time Uniformity. They surveyed the entire nation, through questioning telephone operators as to local time observances, and found the situation was quite confusing. Next, the Committee's goal was a strong supportive story on the front page of the New York Times. Having rallied the general public's support, the Time Uniformity Committee's goal was accomplished, but only after discovering and disclosing that on the 35-mile stretch of highway (Route 2) between Moundsville, W.V., and Steubenville, Ohio, every bus driver and his passengers had to endure seven time changes!
The Uniform Time Act
By 1966, some 100 million Americans were observing Daylight Saving Time based on their local laws and customs. Congress decided to step in and end the confusion, and to establish one pattern across the country. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 (15 U.S. Code Section 260a) [see law], signed into Public Law 89-387 on April 12, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson, created Daylight Saving Time to begin on the last Sunday of April and to end on the last Sunday of October. Any State that wanted to be exempt from Daylight Saving Time could do so by passing a state law.
The Uniform Time Act of 1966 established a system of uniform (within each time zone) Daylight Saving Time throughout the U.S. and its possessions, exempting only those states in which the legislatures voted to keep the entire state on standard time.
In 1972, Congress revised the law to provide that, if a state was in two or more time zones, the state could exempt the part of the state that was in one time zone while providing that the part of the state in a different time zone would observe Daylight Saving Time. The Federal law was amended in 1986 to begin Daylight Saving Time on the first Sunday in April.
Under legislation enacted in 1986, Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. began at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and ended at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. beginning in 2007, though Congress retained the right to revert to the 1986 law should the change prove unpopular or if energy savings are not significant. Going from 2007 forward, Daylight Saving Time in the U.S.
begins at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of March and
ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November
In most of the countries of Western Europe, including the countries that are members of the EU, Daylight Saving Time:
begins at 1:00 a.m. GMT on the last Sunday of March and
ends at 1:00 a.m. GMT on the last Sunday of October
Observance of Daylight Saving Time elsewhere in the world is highly variable. See Worldwide daylight saving.
Overview of countries
While the adoption of Daylight Saving Time is almost always rife with controversy, most of the world (except for countries around the Equator) has implemented DST at one point or another. This map depicts countries that currently have DST, that previously had DST, and that never had DST.
Worldwide daylight saving
Today, approximately 70 countries utilize Daylight Saving Time in at least a portion of the country. Japan, India, and China are the only major industrialized countries that do not observe some form of daylight saving.
Help keep us current
If there's been a change to the observance of Daylight Saving Time or Summer Time where you live, please let us know. With your help, we can ensure that this exhibit is accurate. If one is available, please include a link to the new law, or to news coverage of the new law. Read more about sharing.
Not the tropics
Equatorial and tropical countries (lower latitudes) generally do not observe Daylight Saving Time. Since the daylight hours are similar during every season, there is no advantage to moving clocks forward during the summer. China has had a single time zone since May 1, 1980, observing summer Daylight Saving Time from 1986 through 1991; they do not observe DST now.
List of countries
Most countries that observe Daylight Saving Time are listed in the table below. They all save one hour in the summer and change their clocks some time between midnight and 3:00 a.m.
Continent Country Beginning and ending days
Africa Egypt Start: Last Friday in April
End: Last Thursday in September
Namibia Start: First Sunday in September
End: First Sunday in April
Tunisia In 2009 the government of Tunisia canceled DST and kept the standard time all year round.
Asia Most states of the former USSR. Start: Last Sunday in March
End: Last Sunday in October
Bangladesh Cancelled in 2010.
Iraq Start: First Friday in April
End: Last Friday in October
Israel (more info) Start: Last Friday before April 2
End: The Sunday between
Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur
Jordan Start: Last Thursday of March
End: Last Friday in September
Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan Start: Last Sunday in March
End: Last Sunday in October
Mongolia Start: Fourth Friday in March
End: Last Friday in September
Palestinian regions (more info) (Estimate)
Start: First Friday on or after 15 April
End: First Friday on or after 15 October
Syria Start: March 30
End: September 21
Australasia Australia - South Australia, Victoria,
Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales,
Lord Howe Island - See link Start: First Sunday in October
End: First Sunday in April
Australia - Tasmania Start: First Sunday in October
End: Last Sunday in March
Fiji Stopped in 2000
New Zealand, Chatham - (read law)
Start: Last Sunday in September
End: First Sunday in April
Tonga Start: First Sunday in November
End: Last Sunday in January
Europe European Union - (read law)
UK - (read law) Start: Last Sunday in March at 1 am UTC
End: Last Sunday in October at 1 am UTC
Russia Permanent, as of February 2011
North America United States, Canada (excluding Saskatchewan and parts of Quebec, B.C., and Ontario),
Bermuda, St. Johns, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Start: Second Sunday in March
End: First Sunday in November
Cuba Start: Third Sunday in March
End: Last Sunday of October.
Greenland Same as EU
Guatemala
no longer observes DST n/a
Honduras Start: May 7
End: August
Mexico (except Sonora) Start: First Sunday in April
End: Last Sunday in October
Nicaragua
no longer observes DST n/a
South America Argentina.
Started Sun Dec 30, 2007
Ending 16 March 2008.
Practiced in 2009.
Not currently observed.
Brazil
Equatorial Brazil does not observe DST. Start: Third Sunday in October
End: Third Sunday in February
Chile - (read law)
Start:October 11
End: March 29
Falklands Start: First Sunday on or after 8 September
End: First Sunday on or after 6 April
Paraguay Start: Third Sunday in October
End: Second Sunday in March
Uruguay Start: First Sunday in October
End: Second Sunday in March
Antarctica Antarctica (more info) (varies, see below)
Note that there are many oddities. For example, some parts of the U.S. and Canada do not observe Daylight Saving Time, such as the state of Arizona (U.S.) and the province Saskatchewan (Canada).
Observance can also be erratic. For example, Chile delayed its changeover date for the Pope's visit in 1987, as well as for a presidential inauguration in 1990.
Australia
Clark Dam at Butlers Gorge in Tasmania. The bulk of the electricity in Tasmania is generated by hydroelectric stations, causing an energy shortage in the drought of 1967.
In Australia, daylight saving was first introduced during World War I under Commonwealth legislation which, due to wartime emergency, was binding on all the states. During the World Wars, Daylight Saving Time was implemented for the late summers beginning January 1917 and 1942, and the full summers beginning September 1942 and 1943. (Western Australia did not use DST during the summer of 1943.)
In 1967, Tasmania experienced a drought, which depleted their reserves of water. The state government introduced one hour of daylight saving that summer as a means of saving power and hence water. Tasmanians reacted favorably to daylight saving and the Tasmanian government has declared daylight saving each summer since 1968. After persuasion by the Tasmanian Government, all states (except Western Australia and the Northern Territory) passed legislation in 1971 for a trial season of daylight saving. The following year, New South Wales, South Australia, and Victoria joined Tasmania for regular daylight saving, but Queensland did not do so until 1989.
Tasmania, Queensland, and Western Australia have had erratic schedules, often changing their dates due to politics and to accommodate festivals. In 1992, for example, Tasmania extended daylight saving by an additional month while South Australia began extending daylight saving by two weeks to encompass the Adelaide Festival. In some years, Victoria extended daylight saving to the end of March for the Moomba Festival and South Australia and New South Wales followed suit for consistency. Special daylight saving arrangements were observed during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Queensland does not have daylight saving, although they implemented it from 1989 to 1992 before it was voted down. Although DST was well received in South East Queensland, it was a major inconvenience to the rest of the state. As resident Samantha Rannard commented, "You do not need an extra hour of daylight when it is 98% humidity and 35 degrees Celsius in the tropics!" On the Gold Coast, which borders New South Wales, some businesses do adopt it, but many do not.
In response to the problems caused by the lack of uniformity, a Private Members Bill, the National Measurement (Standard Time) Amendment Bill 1991, was introduced into Federal Parliament in May 1991 by Ron Edwards, Member for Stirling in WA, to define a national system of time zones and Daylight Saving Time for Australia and its external territories. But in March 1992, the Federal Government decided not proceed with the bill, and the setting of time zones and daylight saving remains the responsibility of the state and territory governments. The lack of uniformity of daylight saving in Australia continues to cause significant problems for the transportation and communication industries. It also reduces the number of hours in the working day that are common to all centers in the country. In particular, time differences along the East Coast cause major difficulties, especially for the broadcasters of national radio and television.
Western Australia enacted a three-year trial of Daylight Saving Time beginning in December 2006 and ending in March 2009. The issue of Daylight Saving Time was placed on the ballot in May 2009, and almost 56 percent of Western Australia voters gave DST a thumbs down. Rural areas of the state were overwhelmingly against the measure, and younger voters split fairly evenly for and against. Even DST advocates don't expect another vote on the issue for at least a decade.
New South Wales enacted legislation in 2007 to have DST commence at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in October and revert back to Standard Time at 3:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in April.
Asia
Bangladesh
Bangladesh instituted Daylight Saving Time at 11:00 p.m. local time on June 19, 2009. DST was launched in an effort to address severe power shortages and outages in the country. The government has not announced an end date for DST, but some sources say it will continue through September 2009, while others say it will end in October 2009.
Japan
In Japan, Daylight saving was introduced after World War II by the U.S. occupation but was dispensed with in 1952, following opposition from farmers. Despite efforts by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to have daylight saving introduced to cut Japan's energy consumption, opposition from farmers and the Ministry of Education (which was concerned that lighter evenings would entice school children from their homework) has continued to win the day
Israel
Israel always has Daylight Saving Time, but until 2005, it was decided every year by the Ministry of Interior. There was no set rule for Daylight Saving/Standard time changes, and there was long-running debate between the majority of the secular public who wanted to extend daylight saving as long as possible, and the religious public who wanted to end it before Yom Kippur. One element was entrenched in law, however: that there had to be at least 150 days of Daylight Saving Time annually. From 1993 to 1998, the change to Daylight Saving Time was on a Friday morning from midnight IST to 1:00 a.m. IDT; up until 1998, the change back to Standard Time was on a Saturday night from midnight Daylight Saving Time to 11:00 p.m. Standard Time. An exception was 1996, when the change back to Standard Time took place on Sunday night instead of Saturday night to avoid conflicts with the Jewish New Year. From 1999 to 2004, the change to Daylight Saving Time was on a Friday morning, but from 2:00 a.m. IST to 3:00 a.m. IDT; and the change back to Standard Time was on a Friday morning from 2:00 a.m. IDT to 1:00 a.m. IST.
The disputed territories have had varying Daylight Saving Time rules as the dramatic politics of the region have swayed the occupying power. Being closer to the equator than Europe, there is less need for DST, but it has generally been observed anyway. At present, as a sign of independence from Israeli rule, the Palestinian National Authority uses a different schedule for Daylight Saving Time than Israel.
Early in the twentieth century, the British were quick to standardize time, and from 1917 until May 15, 1948, all of Palestine, including the parts now known as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, was under British rule and followed British time changes.
From May 15, 1948 to June 5, 1967, the Gaza Strip was mostly under Egyptian rule and followed Egyptian policy. The rest of the area was under Jordanian rule at that time, formally annexed in 1950 as the West Bank. So the rules for Jordan for that time apply. Major towns in that area are Nablus (Shchem), El-Halil (Hebron), Ramallah, and East Jerusalem. Both areas followed Israeli time when they were occupied by Israel in June 1967, but not annexed (except for East Jerusalem). The Palestinian National Authority was established in 1993, and controlled most towns in the West Bank and Gaza by 1995, at which time the Palestinians began using their own time change dates, separate from Israel's.
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan began keeping Daylight Saving Time year round in 2005.
Pakistan
Over the years, Pakistan has experimented with Summer Time. It was observed from 12:00 midnight on the first Sunday in April through 12:00 midnight on the first Sunday in October 2002. In 2008, Pakistan again observed Summer Time, which began at midnight local time on May 31 and reverted back to Standard Time on October 31.
Philippines
The Philippines introduced short periods of Daylight Saving Time between 1986 and 1998 to conserve energy, and in April 2006 the Department of Trade and Industry proposed that Daylight Saving Time again be implemented to combat rising oil prices.
South Korea
Although South Korea does not currently observe Daylight Saving Time, the country did adhere to DST from 1948 to 1951, 1955 to 1960, and 1987 to 1988.
Taiwan
Taiwan has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Daylight Saving Time, having observed it from 1945 to 1961 and 1974 to 1975.
Europe
European Union
Russia
As Februrary 2011, Russia has permanent Daylight Saving Time. Once Daylight Saving Time starts in the Spring, it will stay in effect. See video on YouTube of Dmitry Medvedev announcing that Russia will remain on daylight saving time permanently, and how it will prevent the annoyance of semiannual time changes.
Previously, during the summer, Russia's clocks are two hours ahead of standard time. For example, Moscow standard time (UTC+3) is about a half-hour ahead of local mean time (UTC+2:30); this is about the same situation as Detroit, where the standard time (UTC-5) is also about a half-hour ahead of local mean time (UTC-5:32). During the winter, all 11 of the Russian time zones remain an hour ahead of standard time. With their high latitude, the two hours of Daylight Saving Time significantly extend daylight during waking hours.
North America
Cuba
Cuba has observed Daylight Saving Time since 2004.
Honduras
Honduras observed Daylight Saving Time during 1994, and again in 2006, though for only three months. Honduras will also observe DST from 2007-2009.
Mexico
Mexico, with the exception of Sonora, has observed Daylight Saving Time since 1996, adhering to the same schedule as the U.S. Although the U.S. is slated to change Daylight Saving Time dates in 2007, Mexico will maintain the original schedule of starting the first Sunday in April and ending the last Sunday in October.
Nicaragua
Nicaragua implemented Daylight Saving Time as an energy-saving measure from 1992 to 1994, then again beginning in 2004.
South America
Brazil
After years of variability, in 2008 the Brazilian government standardized Daylight Saving Time. In previous years, the government announced DST starting and ending dates each year, resulting in durations ranging from 14 weeks to over 20 years.
Legislation enacted in 2008 decrees that, henceforth, DST begins at midnight on the third Sunday of October, and reverts to Standard Time at midnight on the third Sunday of February. The exception is that, when Carnaval falls on the third Sunday of February, DST will be extended for one week.
Keep in mind, though, that DST is still only observed in 10 of the country's 26 states: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Parana, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, Minas Gerais, Goias, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul. It is also observed in the Distrito Federal.
Antarctica
The Antarctic Peninsula (Palmer Station) uses Chile's time zone, but the rest of the continent does not. Rothera, a British base, does not implement daylight saving, but instead remains GMT -3. U.S. bases, including both McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, use New Zealand's time zone and daylight saving dates.
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