2023-10-28 13:48:38
Yes, the time change still exists. The clocks will be changed on the night of October 29th to October 30th, 2023. Then summer time ends and winter time begins. The abolition of the time change is discussed again and again.
What is standard time?
At the beginning of summer time – i.e. in March – the clock is set forward from two o’clock to three o’clock. In October, standard time starts when the clocks are set back from three to two o’clock. The so-called winter time is standard time, Central European Time (CET). It lasts five months, from the end of October to the end of March. The remaining seven months are in summer time (CEST). The time change always occurs on the night of the last Sunday in October or on the night of the last Sunday in March.
Sundials measure solar time or local time. This is the name of the time measure that is based on the true path of the sun. If the sun is at its zenith somewhere in the world, it is 12 noon there (true local time WOZ).
What does the time change bring?
The time change – i.e. the change in spring to summer time – was introduced to save energy. If it is daylight for an hour longer, electricity consumption is lower. At least that’s the plan.
Why should the time change be abolished?
However, the energy saving effects are controversial and can hardly be proven. In summer, less energy is used for light. This means that more heating is done in the mornings in spring and autumn.
The Germans are not fans of the time change. In surveys, around three quarters of those surveyed regularly support abolition and complain about the “stolen hour” in the spring.
What problems can arise from the time change?
The time change has an impact on people’s biorhythms. But summertime can also confuse animals. This usually leads to problems when they meet people. Dairy cows should always be milked and fed at the same time. In order to get the animals used to people’s new working and getting-up times, some farms are gradually adapting the milking time to the new rhythm and starting to milk the cows five minutes earlier day after day two weeks before the time change. Just in time for the time change, humans and animals are in the same biorhythm.
Wild animals also pay less attention to the time displayed on smartphones and wristwatches than to daylight and twilight. Deer and other game prefer to cross roads at dusk. The ADAC points this out to drivers. If rush hour traffic falls between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. at dawn, there is an increased risk of collision. It is no coincidence that the number of deer killed in accidents was particularly high in April.
The technology doesn’t cause any problems when changing the clocks. The exact time is provided by the atomic clocks of the Physical-Technical Federal Institute in Braunschweig. Radio-controlled clocks adjust automatically. The time change has long been routine for Deutsche Bahn.
When should the time change be abolished?
The EU has been discussing an end to the time change for a long time. In 2018 the time had come and the EU Commission presented a corresponding draft law. The European Parliament also agreed, but postponed the end of the time change planned for 2019 to 2021. But the member states did not go along with it. The plans are therefore on hold.
Why hasn’t the time change been abolished yet?
The EU countries disagree about which time should be abolished: winter time, also known as standard time, or summer time. Some EU countries do not want to abolish the time change at all. The EU wants to avoid a patchwork of several time zones (the same time zone applies everywhere within a time zone).
There is also a compromise proposal in the room. Biljana Borzan from Croatia, deputy leader of the Social Democrats in the EU Parliament, is said to have suggested to the EU Commission that the clocks should only be set back by half an hour in the future. Then it would always be 12.30 p.m. when the sun is at its highest point, and not the current 12 p.m. in winter and 1 p.m. in summer. However, the chances of success with half an hour are likely to be close to zero.
In no other EU country is the time change as controversial an issue as it is in Germany. Across the EU, a total of 4.6 million participants took part in an online survey on the topic in 2018 – three million of which came from Germany alone.
Where are the clocks changed?
Many countries outside Europe have already abolished the change or are aiming to do so. In the US, the Senate voted to make daylight saving time permanent in March 2022. However, the House of Representatives has not yet voted on it. It is also unclear whether there would be a majority in favor and whether US President Joe Biden would sign a corresponding law. A foreseeable execution is therefore – similar to Europe – not at all certain.
How long has summer time and winter time existed?
The time change has existed since 1916. On April 30, 1916, the German Empire and Austria-Hungary introduced the time change; at that time it was primarily a war measure. The evenings in summer should be extended to take advantage of natural daylight in the defense industry and agriculture instead of having to resort to artificial lighting.
But the interlude only lasted three years. At the beginning of the Weimar Republic, the time change was reversed – only to be reintroduced with the Second World War. In 1940, summer time came back.
A short guest appearance in Berlin and the Soviet occupation zone in 1945, and throughout Germany in 1947 was the Central European Midsummer Season (MEHSZ).
The clock was not turned between 1950 and 1979. On April 6, 1980, summer time was finally officially introduced in FRG and GDR, following the example of France and other European countries – again to save energy.
It took until 1996 for the different summer time regulations in the European Union to be standardized.
Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Michael Hierholzer Published/Updated: Recommendations: 9 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 42 Simone Dettelbacher Published/Updated: Recommendations: 26
Why does the clock change at 3 o’clock?
The correct answer, which should please every German bureaucrat, to the question of why the clocks are changed at 3 a.m. or 2 a.m.: Because it says so in the “Ordinance on the introduction of Central European Summer Time from 2002 (Summer Time Ordinance – SoZV)” stands.
How do you get babies used to the time change?
Babies and young children often find it difficult to fall asleep at their usual time when it is still light outside. The pharmacy magazine “Baby und Familie” advises parents to change their children’s rhythm very gradually: If you put the child to bed 10 minutes earlier for a week, you extend the time difference over a week instead of just one night. In addition, the bedroom should be well darkened in the evening and the child should still be woken up at the usual time in the morning. Brightness in the room makes it easier to get up earlier.
Can we sleep longer?
The good news: With the upcoming time change, we’ll get an hour of sleep for free because the clocks will be set back an hour when we change to winter time.
In spring it means: one hour less sleep. Because the night is one hour shorter when you switch to summer time. When switching to winter time, the clocks are set back one hour.
Mnemonics for the time change
There are a few mnemonics for the “right direction” of the time change. The garden furniture rule becomes very practical: you put it IN FRONT of the door in the spring, and put it BACK in the basement in the fall. The same applies to the hands when changing the clock. Or think of a thermometer: like the numbers on a digital clock, the temperatures go UP in spring and DOWN in autumn. The O and I mnemonic: In the SoThe clock always goes to vorne placed, in the Winter to hinths. If you prefer it in English: in spring (English for spring) the hands of the clock jump forward, in fall (English for autumn) the hands fall back.
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