Daylight saving time returns on Sunday 26 March. And with the new time that moves the hands forward by an hour and lengthens the days, the debate is also rekindled between those who would like to keep it all year round and those who would prefer to maintain the current dual regime (summer-winter time, this year on October 29).
In truth, the pressure on the government (this time the Meloni one, in the past the Conte one) for the adoption of permanent daylight saving time in Italy has never ended. On the other hand, this is a possibility envisaged by the European Union which has left maximum discretion on the measure to the Member States and which according to experts would lead to considerable economic, environmental and health benefits. Once again, the debate is rekindled by the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima), which together with Consumerismo No Profit has launched an online petition (with over 280,000 signatures already collected) to push the executive to keep the time in force legal all year round. Just to get an idea: in 2023 the adoption of permanent summer time throughout the year would produce in our country, on the basis of current electricity tariffs, direct savings in bills of 382 million euros, thanks to lower energy consumption for about 720 million kWh. Savings that would increase if electricity tariffs were to increase during the year. To all this would also be added an important cut in emissions equal to 200,000 tons of CO2 less, equivalent to that absorbed by planting from 2 to 6 million new trees, with the well-known health benefits.
To better understand what might be the significance of a decision that fixes summer time all year round, we can take the help of a practical example. In Cagliari, when solar time is in force, on 21 December (the shortest day of the year) the sun sets at 17.01. With the legal one it would become 18.01. It is true that the dawn of the same day would be moved to 8.37 instead of 7.37, but the savings in consumption and electricity would still be greater given that at 5 in the afternoon most of the work activities are still in full swing. Doing the calculations of the servant, assuming that in the period in which solar time is in force, daylight saving time is applied (October 29 - March 26, for a total of 147 days), an extra hour of natural light per day would be purchased, for a total of 147 hours. Considering current prices, it would lead to extraordinary savings on energy consumption in our country.
Focusing on daylight saving time all year round would not only have economic advantages but also for people's health. The abolition of the time change, in addition to leading to savings in the bill, would eliminate inconvenience and disturbance, considering that the one-hour delay has consequences both at the level of mood and at the physical level for about 15% of citizens, and produces sleep disturbances in one child out of two, without counting the inconveniences associated with adjusting the time (computer system updates, train timetables, timed thermostats, DVDs, electronic diaries, radio alarm clocks, car clocks, problems with financial transactions).
The US Senate has already approved a bipartisan law that extends daylight saving time throughout the year, called "daylight saving time" in the US. Italy, under the impetus of the European Union, and on the choice already made by some Nordic countries (see Finland), is waiting.