One more hour of sleep and one hour of sunshine lost. Like every year, you will have to make sure to wind all the hands this Sunday, October 29 from 3 a.m. Since 1975, the year in which summer time was introduced, our habits have evolved and most devices update automatically. This change generates other inconveniences for some: stress, change of pace for children, etc. And ultimately has little effect on energy consumption. It is for this reason, and a few others, that 65 countries which had once adopted the measure decided to stop it.
A public health measure
In 2011, Ukraine, like Russia, repealed winter time. The end of this organization was presented by the government as a public health measure. A member of the presidential majority assured at the time that “cardiovascular problems increase by around 60% during the first week following any time change and the number of calls to pediatricians jumps by 130%”. However, the measure has not yet been applied: Parliament reversed its decision, before finally voting on it again in 2021. The change has still not been made due to the Russian invasion. Russia also mentioned, in 2011, the public health aspect to justify abandoning the time change: President Dmitri Medvedev indicated, at the time, that he wanted to avoid “stress and illness”.
Enjoy the sunshine
Turkey also stopped changing the time twice a year. In 2016, in the middle of the presidential campaign, the government explained that it wanted to “enjoy the sunshine for longer”. He wanted the vote to take place in daylight for as long as possible.
In China, many residents have complained about the time change. In some cities, especially Guangzhou, many people simply ignored it and started operating on their own schedule. Beijing therefore definitively abandoned it in 1992.
Energy gains too low?
The European Union also planned to eliminate the time change for all of its members. In 2018, Parliament adopted a resolution aimed at reviewing the arrangements for changing time in the EU. This change was to take place in 2019, then in 2021. Except that the file has been blocked in the Council of the EU since December 2, 2019, the date of the last discussions on the subject. At the time, a majority of member states supported the proposal to end it. The ministers concerned simply asked that an impact study be carried out by the Commission. But between the Covid epidemic, the finalization of Brexit and then the war in Ukraine, priorities have been revised and the time change is no longer one of them. Especially since Europeans do not agree on the time zone to keep.
The merits of the time change, originally introduced to save energy, have been called into question on several occasions. The gain represents only 0.07% of total electricity consumption in France. A British study, published by The Guardianeven claims that removing the time change in October would save 400 pounds sterling (460 euros) per household per year, because it would be daylight longer in the evening, which would reduce demand at peak times.
Egypt continued to move back and forth between the two systems depending on the context in which it found itself. After abandoning it in 2011, the country returned to the time change between 2014 and 2015, before stopping again and finally introducing it again at the start of 2023, with the aim of make savings.