The Daylight saving time returns on 26 March, with the hands of the clocks moving forward one hour between Saturday and Sunday at 2. On the occasion of this circumstance, the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima) has promoted together with Consumerismo No Profit an online petition to maintain daylight saving time throughout the year, has already collected over 281,000 signatures.
“Starting from 26 March and until 29 October it will be possible to take advantage of an extra hour of light in the evening, with a consequent reduction in energy consumption by families and businesses and obvious savings in bills – explains the president Alessandro Miani – Benefits that are not only economic but also environmental, considering the significant reduction of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere due to the new timetable”.
“The abandonment of the double annual time change would also stop even the small circadian rhythm disturbances that we experience today in the transition from standard time to summer time and vice versa, with beneficial effects on the health of citizens”, adds Miani.
Based on Sima’s estimates, in 2023 alone, the adoption of permanent summer time throughout the year would produce direct savings in bills of 382 million euros on the basis of current electricity tariffs., thanks to lower energy consumption for about 720 million kWh. Savings that would increase if electricity tariffs were to increase during the year. Suffice it to say that on 21 December, the shortest day of the year, in solar time the sun sets in Milan at around 4.41pm, in Rome at 4.38pm and in Bologna at 6.36pm. For these reasons, Sima today asks the Meloni Government to commit itself to finally abandoning solar time in Italy by adopting summer time all year round. A possibility envisaged by the European Union – concludes Sima – which already in 2019 approved a Directive that leaves broad discretion to the Member States, hoping for coordination between the various nations to avoid repercussions on trade and cross-border movements.
Source: Ansa
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