Daylight-saving time will arrive three weeks early this year in the United States, thanks in part to the Energy Policy Act, which Congress approved and President George W. Bush signed in 2005.

Unlike previous years, when Americans set their clocks forward in April, this year the time will be moved to 2 a.m. this Sunday, in an effort to save energy.

Staff members at Syracuse University Information Technology and Services have been working to prevent any major issues that could potentially stem from the change. Because most computer programs with a calendar are written for the original time change, this switch has created the need for updates to ensure they will continue to work properly.

Computers and cell phones are among the technology that will be affected. Though it has been rumored that this time change will cause problems, most companies have been working to prevent that from happening.

‘My cell phone is vital to my existence,’ said freshman romance languages and nutrition major Kendra Hughbanks.

Paul Gandel, vice president of Information Technology at SU, and his staff have been applying patches to the university computer systems’ software during the past few weeks. He said the patches are software that change the computer’s date and make sure they will work properly after the time change on Sunday.

Students are urged to make sure their personal computers are updated, Gandel said. In some cases, the changes will be automatically downloaded, including computers that run on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Some devices may exhibit strange behavior for a while after the change.

‘The fixes and changes are not simple,’ Gandel said.

The total cost of making the daylight-saving time shift for the 7,000 public companies in the United States could be more than $350 million, according to an article in The New York Times on Monday.

The process of installing the patches has taken up a lot of time and effort of the ITS staff, and some of the vendors have been late in sending the patches, which delayed the work, Gandel said. But by the time Sunday rolls around, the university’s computer systems should be prepared for the change.

‘The staff of ITS have done a terrific job to make sure all necessary systems work,’ Gandel said.

Daylight-saving time was introduced in 1918 as a way to conserve energy during World War I. It was first used nationally, however, during World War II. In 1966, the Uniform Time Act standardized the dates for the beginning and ending.

Throughout history, changes were made to its specifics, most recently in 1988 when a law was passed setting the starting date as the first Sunday in April. Around the world, many countries have their own ways of saving daylight while others simply do not observe it at all. Some U.S. states also don’t follow the changes.

At SU, it seems many are unaware of the updated time change. Others, however, are aware and seem positive about the reasons for changing.

‘If it saves energy, then cool,’ said undecided freshman Allison Nast.

Published on March 7, 2007 at 12:00 pm