Overall, the answers are inconclusive and any energy savings caused by Daylight Savings Time were found to be insignificant. Research has also shown that while it might decrease the time the lights are on, it could also increase the amount of energy we use to heat and cool our homes. It simulated buildings across 15 different cities to discover that shifting clocks back and forward resulted in a net decrease in energy consumption even as the world warms up.īut it also found that this depended on the location and the availability of renewable energy. In New Zealand, energy companies found similar results with electricity usage falling by 3.5 per cent when Daylight Savings began.Ī recent study looked at the impact daylight saving could have on office energy consumption by the year 2050 under different climate scenarios. Those in favour of abolishing the time switch said there were health benefits of doing away with the biannual time shift, energy savings to be made, and more time would be created for evening leisure activities.Science Museum conservator Richard Horton adjusts the clocks during a photo call ahead of the winter time change at the museum's Measuring Time Gallery in central London. International evidence indicates that break-ins could rise by as much as 20pc over the coming months when daylight hours are at their lowest level.Ĭritics have also said that changing the clocks is economically and socially disruptive, therefore cancelling out any benefits. While many enjoy the extra hour in bed, there are some negatives. What are the downsides of clocks going back? It wasn’t until a year later, in May 1916, that Britain passed the Summer Time Act and started changing its clocks twice a year. ![]() But when he died in 1915 the government still hadn’t backed BST. He published a pamphlet called The Waste of Daylight, in which he outlined his plans to change the time of the nation’s clocks. He felt that valuable daylight was being wasted in the mornings during the summer months because people were still in bed. The idea of British Summer Time (BST) was first proposed in the UK in 1907 by William Willett, who happens to be the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin. Turning the clocks forward in the spring brings lighter evenings, or as we say in Ireland, “the grand ould stretch”.
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