Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

EU Polls The Public About Abandoning Daylight Savings Time (europa.eu)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the falling-back dept.

"Following a number of requests from citizens, from the European Parliament, and from certain EU Member States, the Commission has decided to investigate the functioning of the current EU summertime arrangements and to assess whether or not they should be changed."

The EU has launched an official "online consultation" seeking input from the public. Long-time Slashdot reader mitch0 writes: The consultation was started after some member states expressed the opinion that the daylight saving time should be abolished within the EU. There were some local motions in member countries as well, but these cannot really proceed without full coordination with all member states.

So far it seems that most of those wanting to end the daylight-saving change would stick to summer time all-year round, but the questionnaire has a specific question about this issue so a more representative result is expected after the survey is closed in the middle of August...

Citizens can express their opinion about the summer time change by filling out a short online survey.

11 of 254 comments (clear)

  1. DST by SenseiTim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Daylight Saving Time is a pain in the butt. There is no rational reason why we have to fool around with our clocks twice a year.

    1. Re:DST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What electricity savings from DST? Studies conclude that if anything, DST costs more electricity to cool/heat a building than it saves in lighting.

    2. Re:DST by cayenne8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What electricity savings from DST? Studies conclude that if anything, DST costs more electricity to cool/heat a building than it saves in lighting.

      Yep, and not only that, we see spikes in heart attacks/death every time we fsck with the clocks and having it mess with our internal clocks.

      I wish we could abolish it in the US too.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    3. Re:DST by apoc.famine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Isn't that the one benefit of DST changes? If it wasn't for the clock change, those heart attacks would have happened at random. No way to plan for those. At least with the clock change you can prep for the increased load of patients, right?

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
    4. Re:DST by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Insightful

      otherwise people would go to work in total darkness

      so instead we go home in total darkness.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  2. Structural problems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd imagine there's going to be quite a marked geographic divide on this. Southern Europe probably DGAF as they don't get the sort of seasonal variation in daylight hours you get in the north, and the very far north of Europe they have such extremes of variation in daylight hours that fudging the clocks by an hour makes no real difference. However there's going to be a band across the middle (UK, France, Germany, etc) where there exists the right balance between having a problem, and being able to somewhat remedy it by moving your clocks for a few months.

    The problem of course is that whatever is decided is going to be foist onto everyone regardless of need or want, because that's how the EU rolls

    1. Re:Structural problems by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Taking a nap at lunchtime would be good for the rest of us too.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Re:since it is summer by mitch0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The sun is already up too early during summer, another half hour would make it a lot worse...
    We should just accept that winter sucks, the nights are long no matter how we play with the clocks...
    Just stick to summer time, that way at least the change to the sucky part of the year is gradual, and not a sudden one-hour shift a lot of people hate.

    Not to mention that the one hour shift this way and that still causes issues in most IT systems that need to be cleaned up each year after the change... (mostly when the same time "repeats").

    --
    // "If human beings don't keep exercising their lips,
    // their brains start working." -- Ford Prefect
  4. Re:Not DST by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can move your ass an hour earlier out of the bed, no reason why the whole world has to do it!

    There's little point in me getting to school an hour before the prof, or to the supermarket before the staff.

    And I hear there are these things called jobs where it's sometimes necessary for several people to be there together.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. How not to post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I downmodded you because your post adds nothing to the conversation, while I upmodded the post you responded to because it does in fact add to the conversation. Way to go, you must be 'merkin.

  6. Re: Let's do Metric Time Instead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, and that's why they're doing a public consultation rather than just telling everyone what's best! I know you Americans love to criticise the EU, but you really should educate yourself on how it works first.