Daylight saving time was in effect in Russia until 2011, and was subsequently canceled by the government. But there are still discussions about the advisability of an annual watch transfer.
Arguments Supporters of Daylight Saving Time
From a scientific point of view, only the term daylight saving time is correct, and the so-called winter time is standard time. Daylight saving time is a time that is shifted by one hour in relation to zone time. The purpose of the clock is to make more rational use of daylight hours, and due to this, the achieved energy savings in lighting.
Most countries do not use daylight saving time. In 2012, 161 countries belonged to them. The remaining 78 countries use a seasonal time change. This distribution is largely due to the fact that the switch of hands to daylight saving time is impractical in many latitudes where the daylight hours do not change throughout the year.
Everyone who advocates a return to the practice of changing watches most often cites the main argument in his favor - helping to reduce electricity consumption. A side effect of this is the reduction of the environmental burden, the conservation of natural resources. Some also add to the pluses of summertime a decrease in road accidents, a decrease in the number of criminal incidents, an increase in the profitability of tourism, and harmonization of the time reference with surrounding countries.
It is worth noting that there is no unequivocal confirmation of the possibility of saving electricity by transferring the clock to today. For example, RAO UES estimated the annual savings of 4.4 billion kWh. Thus, each Russian saved 60 rubles a year.
American and other Russian researchers estimated the savings at 0.5-1%. But scientists from the UK came to the conclusion that the switch, on the contrary, increases electricity consumption. This is due to the growing demand for air conditioning and heating.
