The European Union voted in 2019 to end daylight saving time as soon as 2021. Member nations could decide to move its standard time up an hour, effectively making it daylight saving time year-round.

1) When does daylight saving time end?

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 1 at 2 a.m. when clocks will fall back one hour to 1 a.m. This means that sunrise and sunset times will be one hour earlier starting Sunday. It also means that there will be an extra hour to sleep Sunday morning.

2) Who is affected?

Almost all Americans, except for those in Hawaii, most of Arizona and U.S. territories, will need to make sure their clocks move back an hour. Many electronic devices, such as televisions, computers and smartphones, will automatically move back. Non-digital clocks will need to be reset manually.

3) Why is daylight saving time necessary?

Depending on whom you ask, it is not. What daylight saving time does is shift an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Governments implemented daylight saving time as a measure to conserve energy. While Americans conserve some energy in the evening with more daylight, research has found that the benefit is negated by increased energy usage in the morning.

4) Why not have daylight saving time year round?

It has been tried before. Most recently, President Richard Nixon implemented year-round daylight saving time in 1974 as America was affected by an energy shortage. The act ended in 1975 as Congress established a standard practice for daylight saving time, allowing for winter mornings to have more daylight, so more people could go to work and school in the daylight.

Also, the legislature in Florida approved year-round daylight saving time in 2018, but the proposal needs approval of Congress. Several other states are also considering petitioning Congress to eliminate daylight saving time.

5) What is the history of daylight saving time?

Many consider Benjamin Franklin as the inventor of daylight saving time, though he only suggested that Parisians wake up earlier to enjoy more of the daylight, and to conserve candle wax. According to the University of Washington assistant professor of economics Hendrik Wolff, Germany during World War I was the first nation to implement daylight saving time. The practice spread to America during World War II.