Which 3 States Do Not Observe Daylight Savings?
Which 3 states do not observe daylight savings? Before April 2, 2006, the answer to that question would have been Indiana, Arizona (except for the Navajo nation), and Hawaii. Now, Indiana has decided to join 47 states in observing Daylight Savings Time (DST). Now, the answer would be Arizona and Hawaii.
Part of the problem in Indiana is its two time zones. Before 2006, 77 out of 92 counties that are in the Eastern Time Zone did not change to Daylight Savings Time. The exception to this was two counties which did use DST near Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky.
In the Central Time Zone, some counties near Chicago and Evansville were divided with some using and some not. This made living in a state with two time zones already, even more complicated. Finally, the bill for the entire state to observe DST passed in 2005. Starting in 2006, Indiana joined the majority of the United States in using DST.
Which 3 States Do Not Observe Daylight Savings?
So, in 2006 and beyond, there are only two states which do not observe DST. Also, the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and American Samoa do not observe Daylight Savings Time.
Now that you can answer the question, “Which 3 states do not observe daylight savings?” maybe you would like to become familiar with how DST started.
In 1884, there was a conference in Washington, DC, called the International Prime Meridian Conference in Washington, DC. Sir Sanford Fleming, of Canada, was instrumental in setting up the conference because he felt that it was important for the world to adopt a standard time and establish world wide time zones. This was accomplished with the Prime Meridian being set as the line of longitude 0 and running through the Observatory of Greenwich in Greenwich, England.
Times zones were mapped out, with 24 zones, roughly an hour apart, and agreed upon by all countries in attendance. They have been tweaked from time to time since then, but are now being used by all.
In the United States, the railroads continued using time zones, as they were using them before the conference, but time zones were not official until 1918. At that time, Daylight Savings Time was also enacted. However, it was not well received by the general public, and was repealed the next year.
It started again between 1942 and 1945, during World War II. After the war, each state was given the choice of observing DST. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act set the dates of DST to the last Sunday in April and the last Sunday in October and states still had the choice.
Because of the “Energy crisis” DST started on January the 6th in 1974, and the next year, it started on February 23rd. The starting time changed again in 1986, so in 1987, the starting time was the first Sunday in April.
The most recent change was in 2005, when Congress passed the Energy Policy Act. So from 2007 on, Daylight Savings Time began on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November.
Daylight Savings Time Worldwide
Unless you live in the United States, you probably don’t want to know, “Which 3 states do not observe daylight savings?” But you may want to know that Mexico and the majority of Canada observe DST.
Worldwide, there are 70 countries that, in all or in part, use Daylight Savings Time. China, Japan, and India are the only major industrialized countries that do not use DST. Countries that are located in the tropics do not have Daylight Savings Time, because the daylight hours are very similar all year, so there is no need to do it. Of course, in the Southern Hemisphere, DST is observed from late October to late March.
DST Saves Energy
Sometimes people complain about Daylight Savings Time, saying it doesn’t really help save that much energy. But they need to see the big picture. Even a bit is energy saved is a lot when multiplied by millions. The U.S. Department of Transportation did a study and it showed that electricity usage is reduced by about one percent during every day of Daylight Savings Time.