--- title: Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time | TIME description: A recent study shows that daylight saving actually accomplishes the opposite of its intended goal: saving energy. canonical: https://time.com/video/gMvVuTDE/ og:title: Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time og:description: A recent study shows that daylight saving actually accomplishes the opposite of its intended goal: saving energy. og:url: https://time.com/video/gMvVuTDE/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gMvVuTDE/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time twitter:description: A recent study shows that daylight saving actually accomplishes the opposite of its intended goal: saving energy. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gMvVuTDE/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time [Watch (HLS stream): Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gMvVuTDE.m3u8) (2:26)  _Published 2013-10-30. A recent study shows that daylight saving actually accomplishes the opposite of its intended goal: saving energy._ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:53 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Daylight Saving Time: Here's What Losing An Hour of Sleep Really Does to Your Body](/video/Sq5cPO5f/) ### Daylight Saving Time: Here's What Losing An Hour of Sleep Really Does to Your Body [Things To Know About Daylight Saving](/video/4rawQVJz/) ### Things To Know About Daylight Saving [Jon Oliver: Daylight Saving Time](/video/rK4e8QSX/) ### Jon Oliver: Daylight Saving Time --- ## Transcript Every spring, we turn our clocks an hour ahead. And in the fall, we turn them back. But why? Researchers and government officials are reevaluating the need for Daylight Savings Time. And here's what you need to know. The practice of Daylight Savings actually originates at the beginning of civilization. People adjusted their daily schedules depending on the sun which meant that the workday varied in length. Fast- forward to 1784 when Benjamin Franklin published an essay in France suggesting that rising earlier could help people save money on candles. More than 100 years later, George Vernon Hudson, a New Zealand astronomer, suggested a two- hour daylight saving shift. Then, again, in 1907, British builder, William Willett proposed advancing clocks by 80 minutes in four incremental steps. But Daylight Savings Time wasn't formally implemented until World War I when Germany attempted to drive down the demand for electrical lighting to divert more coal to the war. Thirty- one other countries quickly followed with similar policies, seizing any opportunity to save money during the war. Daylight Savings was repealed during peacetime, but was brought back during World War II in the 1973 oil embargo. Since then, various laws have made Daylight Savings Time a standard practice across America. But states can opt out as Arizona, Hawaii, and other American territories have. Yet, despite all of Daylight Savings' promises to reduce energy consumption and save money, there's little proof that it works. In 2008, researchers released a study on statewide energy consumption before and after Indiana adopted Daylight Savings Time. The data shows that Daylight Savings actually led to a 1 percent overall rise in residential electricity and that's not even the worst of it. Another 2008 study shows that Daylight Savings affects sleeping patterns and may be linked to an increase in heart attacks. Currently, Daylight Savings is implemented worldwide in over 70 countries, but as the evidence starts to pile up against the practice, Daylight Savings may just become another footnote in history. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Time Explains: Daylight Saving Time","description":"A recent study shows that daylight saving actually accomplishes the opposite of its intended goal: saving energy.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/gMvVuTDE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-10-30T23:42:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/gMvVuTDE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/gMvVuTDE/","duration":"PT2M26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/gMvVuTDE/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```