Daylight Saving Time Ends November 2011

By Jennifer Hong
10/30/2011 05:48 PM ET

Daylight Saving Time 2011 - Daylight saving time officially ends next week, at 2 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2011, when clocks are turned back one hour.

In the northern hemisphere, daylight saving time generally begins in March and ends in November. It allows for more light during the evening hours and less in the morning hours. The shift is meant to make mornings lighter, helping people to prevent accidents and wake up to sunlight, rather than to the drizzling darkness that has plagued recent dawns. It was originally introduced to make the most of the weakened winter sun.

The practice has been criticized and reported to cause problems for farming and other occupations tied to the sun.

In the United States, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 says it officially begins on the second Sunday of March and ends on the first Sunday of November.

Ben Franklin was apparently the first person to suggest the concept changing the clocks because it saved oil for the lanterns.

It wasn't until World War I that changing the clocks was realized on a grand scale. Germany was the first state to adopt the clock changes, to reduce artificial lighting and thereby save coal for the war effort.

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