And here we are, the October 2023 time change is this weekend. Here’s what to keep in mind so you don’t miss out.
For those who, each year, wonder when the changeover to winter time takes place, remember that it always takes place on the last Sunday in October, and always at 3 a.m. How should we go about making this time change correctly without making a mistake? Remember this: this Sunday, October 29, at 3 a.m., it will officially be 2 o’clock.
So what is the right move? It’s simple ! You need to set your watch back one hour when you go to bed or when you get up this Sunday morning, to start the day at the right time. While the majority of devices now set the time automatically, doubts remain for old watches and clocks.
The trick is repeated from year to year: at the end of the word OCTOBER, the time change consists of moving the hands BACK one hour.
Every year, the time change is a matter of debate. Disrupting the biological rhythm for some, causing fatigue, sleep problems and irritation, it is an aberration for others. In winter, in fact, France is already one hour behind its geographical time zone. The GMT 1 system was adopted by the government in 1945 to take better advantage of sunshine hours. But by moving the time forward one more hour in the summer since 1975, France has gained a second hour difference with the so-called “GMT” time. “Double summer time” is thus opposed by several associations which emphasize that France is one of the rare countries to have adopted it.
The time change was adopted following the oil crisis to save energy. According to Ademe, 1.3 billion kilowatts/hour are saved each year thanks to this system, or the energy consumption of a city of 200,000 inhabitants. A gain that opponents contest and minimize.
We are making savings, but not enough. In a 2017 European Parliament study on the effects of double seasonal time change, MEPs conclude: “If summer time is beneficial to the internal market, in particular the transport sector, and to leisure activities , [the time change] generates marginal savings in energy consumption and the impact on other economic sectors is largely inconclusive.”
The greater brightness would make the roads a little safer at the end of the day in summer according to the defenders of the time change while its detractors assert that it is in the morning that the darkness becomes, in return, more accident-prone… In winter , the opposite modification on the other hand increases the risk of accidents depending on road safety itself. It is also pointed out that the time change would shift a considerable mass of road traffic to times which would facilitate pollution of the atmosphere. As economic activity ends later each day than during the winter period, it is also industrial activity which would move closer to the coldest hours, once again favoring pollution peaks. A point which could be important given that the energy crisis and the risks of power cuts this winter are real.
The debate on the time change therefore goes beyond the strict scope of energy. In many sectors, the time change can have an impact, such as in construction. The same is true of the agricultural sector where activity generally starts very early in the morning and where the sensitivity of animals to the vagaries of the weather is very high.
