Ja, the time change still exists. The clocks will change on October 30, 2022. Daylight saving time ends on Sunday 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 put forward from two o’clock to three o’clock. Normal time starts in October when the clocks are turned back from three to two o’clock. The so-called winter time is the normal time, the Central European Time (CET). It lasts five months, from the end of October to the end of March. Summer time (CEST) applies to the remaining seven months. Time change is always 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 measure of time that is based on the true course of the sun. If the sun is at its zenith somewhere in the world, it is 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, the 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 are said to be virtually impossible to prove. In summer, less energy is used for lighting. In return, more heating is provided in the mornings in spring and autumn.
The Germans are not fans of the time change. In surveys, around three-quarters of those surveyed are in favor of abolishing it and complain about the “stolen hour” in the spring.
What problems can arise due to 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 the new working hours and getting up times, some farms are gradually adjusting the milking time to the new rhythm and, two weeks before the time change, start milking the cows five minutes earlier every day. Just in time for the time change, humans and animals are in the same biorhythm.
Wild animals also orient themselves less 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 an accident in April was particularly high.
The technology does not cause any problems with the changeover of the clocks. The exact time is given by the atomic clocks of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Braunschweig. Radio clocks adjust themselves 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, 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. So the plans are on hold.
Why hasn’t the time change been abolished yet?
The EU countries disagree as to which time should be abolished: winter time, also known as normal time, or summer time. Some EU countries do not want to abolish the time change at all. The EU wants to avoid a patchwork quilt of several time zones (within a time zone, the same zone time applies everywhere).
There is also a compromise proposal. 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 future. Then it would always be 12:30 p.m. when the sun is at its highest, and not 12:00 p.m. in winter and 1:00 p.m. in summer, as was previously the case. However, the chances of success with half an hour should tend towards zero.
“This question about the seasonal time change is also a seasonal question that we receive twice a year before the time change,” said a spokesman for the EU Commission six months ago. The ball is in the field of the EU states.
In no other EU country is the time change such a controversial issue as in Germany. A total of 4.6 million people across the EU took part in an online survey on the subject in 2018 – three million of them came from Germany alone.
Where are the clocks changed?
Many countries outside Europe have already abolished the conversion or are striving to do so. In March 2022, the US Senate voted to make daylight saving time permanent. However, the House of Representatives has not yet voted on it. It is also unclear whether there would be a majority for it and whether US President Joe Biden would sign a corresponding law. A foreseeable implementation is therefore – similar to Europe – not at all certain.
How long has summer time and winter time been around?
The time change has existed since 1916. On April 30, 1916, the German Reich and Austria-Hungary introduced the time change, at that time it was primarily a war measure. The summer evenings should be lengthened to take advantage of natural daylight in the armaments industry and agriculture rather than having to resort to artificial lighting.
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. Summer time came back in 1940.
A short guest performance in 1945 in Berlin and the Soviet zone of occupation, 1947 throughout Germany had the Central European Midsummer Time (MEHSZ).
Between 1950 and 1979 the clock was not turned. On April 6, 1980, summer time was finally officially introduced in the 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.
Why is the clock changed 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 is in the “Regulation 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 the usual time when it is still light outside. The pharmacy magazine “Baby und Familie” advises parents to gradually change their child’s rhythm: If you always put the child to bed 10 minutes earlier for a week, you stretch the time difference to one week instead of just one night. In addition, the bedroom should be darkened well 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’s sleep for free, because the clocks will go back an hour when the clocks change to winter time.
In the spring it means: one hour less sleep. Because the night is an hour shorter when you jump to daylight saving time. When changing over to winter time, the clocks are put back one hour.
Dummy bridges for the time change
There are a few mnemonics for the “right direction” of the time change. The garden furniture rule is very practical: Put it in front of the door in spring and put it BACK in the basement in autumn. The same applies to the hands when changing the clock. Or think of a thermometer: the temperatures go UP in spring like the numbers on the digital clock and DOWN in autumn. The O and I mnemonic: In the SOthe clock is always after vOrne, in the Widown to hint. If you prefer it in English: im jump (English for spring) the pointers of the clock jump forward, in case (English for autumn) the hands fall back.
