When Does the Time Change for Fall 2010?

When does the time change for Fall 2010? That time change question seems to be something that a lot of people are asking themselves. For this year, 2010, the time change will occur on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 2 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. And remember for the time change 2010 this fall you will "fall back", or move your clocks back one hour and gain some much needed sleep.

It is easy to remember which way to move your clocks if you follow the old adage of, in the spring you "Spring forward" and in the fall you "Fall back". It is nice during the time change for fall 2010 that you get to gain an hour of sleep. According to many studies most of us don't sleep enough, so this extra hour will be welcomed.

Remember that the way this whole time change thing is setup is as follows: At 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March each year, we set our clocks forward one hour ahead of Standard Time ("Spring forward"). Then at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November each year we "Fall back" and we set our clocks back one hour and this returns us to Standard Time.

Daylight Saving Time was actually put in place during World War I in the United States as a way to save energy for the war production. By changing the time it made for longer days between April and October. Then again during World War II the government required the states to perform the instituted time change. But then after the wars the states were free to choose whether or not they wanted to institute the Daylight Savings time or not.

But by 1966, Congress got involved and passed the Uniform Time Act, which then dictated the length of Daylight Saving Time. These longer days do mean that we use less energy as a country in lighting our homes and businesses.

In 2005, Congress came along again and passed the Energy Policy Act. That started that starting in 2007 that Daylight Saving Time would be four weeks longer. The thought process was that we would be able to save approximately 10,000 barrels of oil each day through reducing power requirements of businesses. But that is a very difficult metric to verify and to know if we are seeing the savings that was projected.

So, when does the time change for fall 2010? Just remember that on Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 2 a.m. Eastern Standard Time you will set your clocks back one hour. Enjoy your extra hour of sleep!

Sources:

http://geography.about.com/cs/daylightsavings/a/dst.htm

http://www.providingnews.com/time-change-2010-fall-when-and-why.html