In reguards to daylight savings time. For those of you that observe it, it is going to be 27 days later next fall.
Here is an article that I read in a South Florida newspaper a few days ago.
This is the last time you will turn back the clock in October
By Ken Kaye
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
October 29, 2006
Say goodbye to time as you know it.
When you set your clock back at 2 a.m. today -- you remembered, didn't you? -- it marked the last time you'll get an extra hour in October. Beginning in 2007, as a means to conserve energy, daylight-saving time will be extended 27 days.
It will start the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday of November.
In all, that will translate to 34 weeks of more sunlight in the afternoons and evenings, compared with 30 under the current April-to-October schedule.
Many people welcome the extension of springing forward and falling back.
"Who doesn't love that extra time after dinner to take a walk and get some fresh air?" asked Leslie Young, a travel agent based in Hollywood.
Then again, Mariano Garcia of West Palm Beach prefers Eastern Standard Time because it's lighter in the mornings, making it easier for his daughter, Daniela, 5, and son, Andres, 7, to get up and go to school.
"Right now, we get up at 6:30, and it feels like the middle of the night," he said.
Under the current agenda, set by the Uniform Time Act of 1966, daylight-saving time starts on the first Sunday of April and continues until the last Sunday of October. However, it is not observed in Hawaii, Arizona and some American territories, including Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The new daylight-saving schedule was mandated under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 as a means to reduce electrical demand. People don't turn on as many lights or watch as much television when there is light in the sky, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Federal studies show that in the average home, lights and small appliances account for 25 percent of electrical bills. Under daylight-saving time, the nation's electrical consumption is cut back by about 1 percent per day.
"In the past, daylight-saving has been used to save energy with the assumption that people would prefer to have more daylight toward end of day than the beginning of the day," said Geoff Chester, spokesman for the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. "More activity takes place in the afternoon than in the morning."
Because the same premise applies to air passengers, travel should be a bit easier under daylight-saving time, said Young, a travel agent with TraveLeaders. She said many people avoid flights before dawn or after dark.
"Many times, people want to arrive when it's still light," she said.
School officials said they would advise parents that their children will face more dark mornings under the new schedule and should be safety conscious.
"School police and personnel will communicate to parents that they should take precautions, such as having children wear light-colored clothing and do other things to make themselves more visible," said Steve Nichol, spokesman for Palm Beach County schools.
There is a chance the new daylight-saving regimen won't last long, if the Department of Energy determines it isn't effective.
Beatrice Brown, who along with husband, Howard, runs Brown's Old Time Clock Shop in Plantation, said she hopes it works. "I don't know why they don't keep daylight-saving all the time," she said.
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