Twice a year, it’s gymnastics between summer time and winter time. If we know that we must advance or retard our clocks, we know little about the history and the advantages of this practice.
Time change in winterchange ofsummer time…it’s our planet’s fault. The inclination of the Earth’s axis of rotation relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun (skew) varies the length of the day during the year. Summer time appears as the way to adapt the days inhabitants to the duration of sunshine in order to save lighting.
Origin of summer time and winter time in France
The idea of putting the clocks forward one hour during the summer was applied for the first time in 1916. Abandoned after the Second World War, daylight saving time returned in 1976 following soaring prices petrol. Indeed, at the time, electricity was mainly produced by power stations in the fuel oil. This saving measure was only to last for the duration of the oil restrictions but was finally generalized to all of Europe in the 1980s.
Advantages of daylight saving time
In theory, daylight saving time pushes back the time of sunset, and therefore the time when we turn on the light at home. In March, the Time change effectively leads to a saving in lighting in the evening, but this is canceled out by the need for lighting in the morning (because the time of day Sunrise is also delayed).
The closer we get to the summer solstice, the greater the economy because, in the morning, the sun rises before the majority of people. The Environment and Control Agencyenergy (Ademe) quantified the gains in 2009 at 440 GWh. The savings will settle with the generalization of low-consumption lighting: theAdeme expects 330 GWh by 2030.
Controversies over the time change
Studies have shown that the change to daylight saving time causes transient sleep disturbances in the elderly and children. Moreover, the time ofsummer in France, which corresponds to a two-hour lag with the sun, would stress the cowswhich require fixed milking times.
Interested in what you just read?