Now you can have a say whether we need Daylight Saving or not!

The European Commission motioned an open consultation regarding Daylight Saving and whether we should continue to set the clocks back and forth every spring and autumn, just as our previous article suggested. Portfolio.hu had all the details.

European citizens and everybody affected can express their opinion about Daylight Saving on a site. The survey can be filled in between 4th July and 16th August.

The consultation is a part of the EU’s evaluation process of the recent guidelines concerning summer time that the Commission has proposed not long ago.

The aim is to find out whether there is a need to change the current regulations. 

The Commission is taking into consideration the requests made by private persons, the European Parliament and several EU countries to investigate the current Daylight Saving situation and whether it should be an option to revoke the clock settings that take place twice each year.

Daylight Saving in most EU countries has a long history. It can be dated back either to a world war or the oil crisis of the 1970s. At the time, the extra hour of light in the summertime was meant for saving energy. It also made transport safe, and people had more opportunities to spend time in the fresh air or enjoy their free time.

As an EU regulation, Daylight Saving was introduced in 1980, and the unity is supposed to help keep up a stable market. Over the years, several studies have researched the effects and benefits of Daylight Saving. For the internal market, it is crucial that the member countries agree on a uniform time system, as otherwise there could be potentially disastrous consequences.

However, somewhat contradicting the initial aim of the clock setting,  it turns out the amount of energy saved is insubstantial – although, this depends largely on geographical location as well. 

It is definitely a positive effect of Daylight Saving, though, that people do tend to organise more outdoor programs during the summer. It has been revealed, however, that its effects on our biological rhythm are graver than previously thought so.

In case the decision is to get rid of Daylight Saving, Hungary will have the option to choose a different time zone, implementing the time of a more eastern time zone.

That would not mean many changes for the summer, however, in the winter, we would get some sun in the morning only around 8-9 am.

The problem is that Hungary’s geographical location means that none of the time zones fit perfectly.

If you feel strongly about Daylight Saving, definitely express your opinion this summer.

For more news, check out this article about the surprising state of Hungarian waters.

Source: portfolio.hu