This weekend, Iowa and many other states will turn clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night, as standard time returns at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 30. Remember the old saying "fall back, spring forward," to help you remember what to do.

This weekend we get the hour of sleep we lost the first Sunday in April when we turned our clocks ahead an hour. The whole notion of borrowing an hour from the morning and giving it to the evening is, to say the least, a bit discombobulating.

Daylight savings and standard time were in the news recently when President Bush signed legislation to extend the amount of days we are under daylight saving time. Currently, daylight saving time begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April. Time reverts to standard time at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. Starting in 2007, daylight saving time will begin on the second Sunday of March and will end on the first Sunday in November. The change in time changes was part of an energy bill signed this summer.

I did some research on time changes and the rationale behind them and found an intersting website, http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/index.html, where I got these facts and ancedotes about daylight saving time.

Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that Daylight Saving Time trims the entire country's electricity usage by a significant, but small amount, of about one percent each day with Daylight Saving Time. We save energy because we use less electricity for lighting and appliances.

Energy use and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes is directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up. Bedtime for most of us is late evening through the year. When we go to bed, we turn off the lights and TV. In the average home, 25 percent of all the electricity we use is for lighting and small appliances, such as TVs, VCRs and stereos. A good percentage of energy consumed by lighting and appliances occurs in the evening when families are home. By moving the clock ahead one hour, we can cut the amount of electricity we consume each day.

Daylight Saving Time was changed slightly in 1986 when President Reagan signed Public Law 99-359. It changed Daylight Saving Time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. No change was made to the ending date of the last Sunday in October.

This was done ostensibly to conserve energy during the month of April. Adding the entire month of April is estimated to save nationwide about 300,000 barrels of oil each year.

To many of us, the time of day is not a matter of life and death. David Prerau, author of: Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time had the following anecdote that shows that the right time can be very important:

In September 1999, the Palestinian West Bank was on daylight saving time while Israel had just switched back to standard time. West Bank Palestinians prepared time bombs and smuggled them to Arab Israelis, who misunderstood the time on the bombs. As the bombs were being planted, they exploded--one hour too early--killing three terrorists instead of two busloads of people, the intended victims.

I imagine the two years notice that the new law gives us before expanding the range of daylight saving time was given as a courtesy to calendar makers. I've seen calendars for the coming year as early as July. They must print the things in January for the coming year.

Regardless, enjoy your "extra" hour this weekend!

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.