Time change: Daylight saving time applies from Sunday

It's that time again: On March 27, the clocks will change.

Daylight saving time begins on Sunday, although the abolition of the time change is discussed again and again.

What does the time change bring?

The time change 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 questioned are in favor of abolishing it and complain about the "stolen hour" in the spring.

This year, the half-yearly debate about the sense and purpose of this measure seems to be much smaller or completely in view of the Ukraine war.

Physicist Andreas Bauch from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig, which is responsible for transmitting the legal time in Germany, does not perceive any politicians' voices on the subject.

The usual inquiries to his authority were also largely absent.

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.

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.

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.