Daylight Saving Time

Daylight Saving Time, I am sure, has intrigued one and all.

DST

A friend asked me yesterday, "what is the advantage of DST?"

Well, I did not have a firm answer for him. But I promised myself to check it a day later, on 29th March 2015, when DST begins across entire Europe.

And as I write this piece, I got my answer. It is just 7 10 PM in Brussels, Belgium, and I can still get some bright sunlight. It is unusual as compared to Friday or the past few weeks, wherein it was almost dusk when I returned home from work.

A quick view of the sunrise and sunset times in March 2015 is as below.

1 07:28 ↑ 18:23 

2 07:26 ↑ 18:25 

3 07:24 ↑ 18:26 

4 07:21 ↑ 18:28 

5 07:19 ↑ 18:30 

6 07:17 ↑ 18:32 

7 07:15 ↑ 18:33 

8 07:13 ↑ 18:35 

9 07:11 ↑ 18:37 

10 07:08 ↑ 18:38 

11 07:06 ↑ 18:40 

12 07:04 ↑ 18:42 

13 07:02 ↑ 18:43 

14 07:00 ↑ 18:45 

15 06:57 ↑ 18:47 

16 06:55 ↑ 18:48 

17 06:53 ↑ 18:50 

18 06:51 ↑ 18:52 

19 06:49 ↑ 18:53 

20 06:46 ↑ 18:55 

21 06:44 ↑ 18:57 

22 06:42 ↑ 18:58 

23 06:40 ↑ 19:00 

24 06:37 ↑ 19:02 

25 06:35 ↑ 19:03 

26 06:33 ↑ 19:05 

27 06:31 ↑ 19:06 

28 06:28 ↑ 19:08 

Daylight Saving Time started on Sunday, 29 March 2015, 02:00, and the sunrise and moon-rise times changed as below.

29 07:26 ↑ 20:10 

30 07:24 ↑ 20:11 

31 07:22 ↑ 20:13

And for the next few months, it goes as below

30th April 2015.

06:19 ↑ 21:02 

31st May 2015.

05:36 ↑ 21:46 

On the next solstice, 21st Jun 2015.

05:29 ↑ 22:00 

This is the date, when the day is the longest and the night is the shortest.

And then the day starts reducing slowly, with the below times for sunrise and sunset on 31st Jul 2015.

31st July 2015

06:07 ↑ 21:30 

If you notice now, with DST, the sun stays up for a longer period of the time when the people are generally awake (note the change between 28th March and 29th March). With this,DST gives more time for the people to "live their lives" and "enjoy the day".

This means more hours for the children to play, more hours for the people to socialize, more hours for businesses et al.

Interesting idea, isn't it?

Read this piece if you need more information.