Sunday happens again, that’s why we put the clock – E24

He is heading towards darker and colder times. When we turn the clock back again, it becomes brighter in the morning and darker in the afternoon than in summer.

But we have not always set the clock, and the scheme with daylight saving time and normal time can be phased out in a few years. In 2019, the European Commission supported a proposal to abolish daylight saving time, but the Council has not adopted the proposal put forward by the European Commission. Therefore, it is not yet clear whether they want to continue working on the proposal in the EU.

However, if it is adopted, it is the responsibility of each country to decide whether the country should use summer time or winter time as normal time. This could lead to an increase in time differences in Europe.

Today, more than 70 countries use daylight saving time, that is, less than 40 percent of the countries in the world. Among our neighboring countries, this applies to Sweden, Finland and Denmark, while Iceland and Russia do not have daylight saving time.

Introduced and discontinued multiple times

In the last 100 years, daylight saving time, which is called time change, has been introduced and eliminated several times in Norway.

Daylight saving time was first introduced in Norway in 1916. The plan was resumed from 1940 to 1945 and from 1959 to 1965, and reintroduced in 1980.

The dates for the introduction of daylight saving time were also changed in 1996, so that the Norwegian clock was set to the same time as in other European countries.

The scheme has been controversial. The reason for putting the clock in spring was originally to have longer and brighter nights in the summer, as well as to save energy. Some countries introduced daylight saving time during World War I to save coal, but recent studies show that very little electricity is saved today by having daylight saving time.

Another purpose is to make better use of daylight during the period of the day when you are normally awake.

More will cut summer time

An argument against setting the clock is, among other things, that animals have built-in clocks and therefore farmers must take time to transition. The team of farmers is among those who believe that the best solution would have been to cut summer time.

Another argument is that several studies have shown that cutting one hour of sleep in spring when we enter summer time can have adverse effects on health.

In 2018, NRK organized an informal digital survey on daylight saving time. In the survey, which received more than 50,000 responses, nine out of ten responded that they want normal time throughout the year or for daylight saving time to be normal time.

How to remember how the clock should be set

A question that arises in many, both in the fall and in the spring, is in which direction the clock should be adjusted.

A general rule of thumb is that it should be set for the nearest summer vacation. In spring you long for summer vacation, while in fall you long for it.

Another general rule of thumb is to think of garden furniture. In spring they are removed and in autumn they are put back for storage.