Repsol YPF

These and several other questions will be answered below. The European Commission established a time change between winter and summer which is common to all countries making up the European Union. As such, clocks are put forward by one hour in the early hours of a Sunday in spring; when the hands show two o’clock it becomes three o’clock. European winter and summer times are regulated by Directive 2000/84/EC, of 19 January 2001, which is incorporated into the Spanish legal system by Royal Decree 236/2002, of 1 March.

When winter arrives it doesn’t make sense to maintain the summer time, we would work several hours when it is already dark, with the resulting increase in energy costs. The time is changed every year at 3 o’clock in the morning on a previously defined autumn weekend. 

The main objective which is sought by putting the clock back when winter approaches or forward when summer arrives, is to make the best use of the sunlight with the resulting reduction in energy costs. In the summer, the sun rises earlier and sets later. The days are longer. The time change attempts to make the start of the working day coincide with daybreak so as to gain time at night-time. That way better use is made of natural light and energy is saved. 

Increased road safety is another reason put forward for maintaining the time change, for the longer people drive in daylight the fewer road traffic accidents there are. There are studies which claim that an extra hour of light reduces road accidents between 0.4% and 0.7%.

Lower energy consumption
The quest for greater energy savings and consequently reduced spending and environmental impact, is responsible for this time change. Great Britain and Ireland were the first countries to notice the benefits. Spain and France joined this initiative shortly afterwards, in 1919. Today around 75 countries use this method to reduce their energy consumption.

According to the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), the fact of having two time settings saves Spanish people at least 5% on their domestic lighting bill and almost 3% on company air conditioning bills.

The drop in energy consumption and the reduction in greenhouse effect gases is greater in summer. The reason is that in winter there are fewer daylight hours. Trade and the tourism and leisure sectors are just some of those benefiting from the increase in daylight hours.

Affects on the body
Alot has been said about the consequences that the time change has on the body. In fact France went as far as asking the European Union to abolish the dual time system alleging that it was unnatural, that it affected people’s state of mind and health and that it harmed farming and stockbreeding.

The change to summertime does lead to a change in everyday habits but it also implies a saving for the family budget. Estimates suggest that individually across Spanish households we save one hour’s worth of energy in four 60 watt light bulbs during the six summer months. Heating costs are also less than in winter, as the sun is providing heat for more hours and radiators and heaters are used less. The same happens with air conditioning: swapping one hour in the afternoon for one in the morning, when the temperature is cooler, means that this device is required to cool a building or home less. 

The human body gets used to the change in a few days. Perhaps it is as a result of this that generally speaking, society appears to have accepted that the time change implies greater well-being and more advantages, both social and financial, than disadvantages.