About 70 countries turn the clock forward once a year and back once. The idea behind introducing summer time is to save energy: it will then remain light for longer. The other side of the coin is that people may have difficulty adapting to the new times. In 2020, we will switch to summer time in Belgium and the Netherlands on March 29, and back to winter time on October 25.
European Union
Daylight saving time, or daylight saving time colloquially, is the time that applies during the summer months. The clock is turned forward one hour compared to standard time (winter time or winter time). In the European Union, summer time runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. On the last Sunday of March, the clock is turned from 2:00 AM to 3:00 AM, and on the last Sunday of October, the clock is reset at 3:00 AM to 2:00 AM.
When do we change to summer/winter time in 2021 and 2022?
|
year |
to summer time |
to winter time |
|
2021 |
28th of March |
October 31st |
|
2022 |
27 March |
30 October |
General
Daylight saving time only makes sense in areas between the tropics and the Arctic circles. After all, the length of the days does not vary sufficiently and summer days at the poles have no night (or day in winter). Summer time also works the other way around in the other hemisphere. If we set the clock to summer time in Europe or the US, in Australia, for example, they switch to winter time.
Criticism
In the summer, the clock is turned forward one hour, which means it gets light later in the morning and stays ready longer in the evening. During winter a reverse effect is obtained. The idea behind daylight saving time is economy. By extending natural light we would in principle use less electricity. This argument is controversial, opponents of the time changes see little point in this and believe that switching to winter or summer time influences the human biorhythm too strongly. They also wonder whether the savings on light energy outweigh the consumption for air conditioning.
History
In Classical Antiquity, the Romans lived according to the rhythm of the day: the day was divided into 12 hours and lasted from sunrise to sunset. The hours during the summer days were therefore longer than during the winter months. It was not until the Middle Ages that an hour was fixed at 60 minutes.
In practice, daylight saving time was first implemented by the German government during the First World War, between April 30, 1916 and October 1, 1916. The United Kingdom and the United States soon followed suit.
In the Interwar period and also during the Second World War, summer time was in use in various European countries. In those days, people went to sleep earlier and got up earlier. Various countries followed suit afterwards, such as Italy in 1966.
The oil crisis in 1973 and the need to implement energy-saving measures prompted many European countries to reintroduce summer time. The Netherlands and Belgium did this in 1977.
Countries where summer/winter time applies (outside the EU)
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chili
- Cuba
- European Union
- Egypt
- Philippines
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- India
- Iran
- Israel
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kyrgyzstan
- Mexico
- Namibia
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tunisia
- United States
- South Korea