For more than half the year, this sundial doesn’t show the right time.
That’s because in many nations, the clocks spring forward by one
hour from the end of March to the end of October.
It’s called daylight saving time, and it affects more
than one billion people. But recently, several nations
have proposed scrapping it, including the European Union.
So how did seasonal clock changes come about,
and should we be getting rid of them?
In most countries, the standard
timezone is generally in sync
with the sun. For example, midday is roughly when the
sun is highest in the sky, with equal amounts of daylight
either side. But for about 70 countries around the world,
this isn't the case for roughly half the year because of daylight
saving time, which is the method of moving clocks forward during
warmer months so that darkness falls at a later time.
Towards the end of March,
countries in the northern
hemisphere set their clocks ahead by one hour to push
sunsets later in the evenings and sunrises
later in the mornings. Then, in late October,
they are wound back by an hour, subtracting an hour of daylight
from the evening and making the early mornings brighter.
In the southern hemisphere, the reverse occurs, with their
daylight saving time taking place during their summers.
The idea of daylight saving was originally proposed by
New Zealander George Hudson in 1895. He was a scientist
studying insects and wanted to take advantage of the
extra daylight in the summer to hunt for bugs.
The idea didn’t catch on at the time, but at
the start of the 20th century, a successful
British builder called William Willett published
a pamphlet called, ‘The waste of daylight.’
Willett proposed moving the clocks forward by 80 minutes
in 20-minute weekly increments.
His campaign even gained the support of Winston
Churchill, but Willett died in 1915 before
his plans were realized.
William Willett was a keen golfer and wasn’t a fan of
cutting short his round at dusk.
He argued that several hours of sun were being
wasted while we slept and that we should use more
of it, along with the nice summer weather, to pursue
leisure activities after work. However, when daylight
saving was finally adopted, it wasn’t
to enjoy long the summer evenings.
In 1916, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire
were the first countries to implement daylight saving
during the first world war. The aim was that by adjusting
the clocks forward, less electricity would
be used for lighting, thereby conserving coal which could
instead be used to power production
towards the war effort.
The U.K. followed suit a month later while the
U.S. adopted it in 1918, which was claimed to
have saved the United States $2 million in gas
bills at the time, or around $33 million when
adjusted for inflation.
Turning on the lights an hour later may have saved
a lot of energy a hundred years ago,
but industrialization and technological advances
mean that lighting is a smaller part
of our overall energy consumption.
A 2017 study found that moving an hour of daylight
to the evening reduced electricity usage by an
average of just 0.34%. Places further from the
equator, which experience the biggest change in
daylight, were more likely to save energy
with daylight saving. But this was offset by
countries closer to the equator.
Longer sunlit evenings in hot countries usually
result in more time spent indoors, pushing up
electricity consumption due to the need for air
conditioning and the growing number of
household electronics.
The use of daylight saving continues to split opinion.
Some countries are even divided about the annual
ritual within their borders.
In the U.S., Hawaii and Arizona — states that
already get a lot of sunshine — are the
only two that haven’t adopted daylight saving.
Within Arizona, however, it’s even more confusing,
as there are territories and reservations which
don’t have seasonal clock changes.
There are also divides in Australia, where three
out of the eight states have not adopted daylight
saving; Brazil, where daylight saving is only
used in the south of the country which lies
furthest from the equator; and Canada, where the
province of Saskatchewan doesn’t have seasonal
clock changes, unlike the rest of the country.
But the European Union is planning to keep things
simple by getting rid of daylight saving altogether.
In 2019, the European Parliament voted to scrap
daylight saving time across all member states from
2021 following a poll showed EU residents
were keen on the move.
However, supporters and critics of seasonal clock
changes are divided about its effects.
For instance, daylight saving reduces road
traffic accidents — which are more likely to occur
after dark — by an estimated 13% in
pedestrian fatalities and 3% fewer deaths among
those traveling in vehicles. However, a study in the U.S.
found that during the week immediately after the clocks
go back in the fall, there is an uptick
in fatal car crashes by 6%.
Research has also shown that immediately after
the clocks go forward in spring, the risk of heart
attacks and strokes grows by 24%, which some
attribute to the loss of an hour of sleep.
Conversely, when the clocks go back in autumn,
the risk falls by 21%.
And a study of people diagnosed with depression
found that the end of daylight saving time saw
an 11% increase in depressive episodes,
thought to be caused by disruption to sleep
patterns and darker evenings.
Studies also suggest that daylight saving causes a
fall in evening TV viewership and
increased physical activity. The brighter evenings are
also popular with retail businesses as it encourages
people to shop more in the sunlight.
According to opinion polls, it’s not the distribution of
daylight hours that voters resent, but rather, the
one-hour transition itself which many
see as inconvenient.
In both the U.S. and the U.K., surveys suggest
significant opposition to the changing of the clocks.
The further you travel from the equator, the
greater the change in daylight hours between
seasons and the significance of the
impact of daylight saving increases. However, for
those countries furthest from the equator, cutting
short the mornings of already very short days
in the winter would be extremely unpopular.
Although the EU’S switch away from seasonal clock
changes has been postponed due to
the pandemic, the decision taken in the European
parliament suggests the move will happen soon.
With around 80% of the global population not using
daylight saving time and many of the original reasons
for implementing the change no longer relevant, the clock
appears to be ticking for daylight saving.
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thoughts on daylight saving. Does it benefit you or does
it hinder you? Do you get one more hour of sleep or
do you have to go to school in the dark?
Comment below the video to let us know
and we’ll see you next time.