Originally Posted by billyymc

I can't believe how many bad answers there are here.

Daylight savings time was created to do just what the name implies -- save up daylight during the winter hours when people aren't outside as much, so that there is more daylight to use in the summertime when kids are out of school and everyone is outside doing things.

If there were no daylight savings time, the daylight/night time hours would be the same all year, except on leap years. By storing daylight during the winter, it allows us to have more daylight hours during the summer, when the stored daylight is released.

There are a few other benefits to DST. 1 - the longer nights provide better snowmaking conditions, so that areas that wouldn't normally be able to have skiing can. North Carolina for example. Without DST, there would be no skiing in NC. 2 - winter passes more quickly since there are more night time hours when people are sleepoing. 3 - farmers do not have to use as much energy to keep their milk cold, because the cows are not absorbing as much sunlight during the day so their internal temperature is lower. During winter, the milk comes out of the udders closer to proper storage/drinking temperature.

I hope this has helped clear up some misconceptions.