why do we change time in summers and winters?

Question

why clocks go back and forward in winters and summers respectively?

Answer 1

This saves energy. Not a lot, but it does save some.
In the summer months the days are significantly longer that in winter months. By moving the clock forward in the summer, we are shifting one hour of daylight from early morning to late evening. If the clocks were not changed the sun would come up around 4:30 am and set around 7:30 pm (depending on your latitude). Not a lot of people are awake at 4 am and need to turn on their lights, but a large portion of the population is awake at 8 pm and will begin to turn on lights as the sun sets. By changing the clocks, we are delaying the peak demand for electricity by one hour, so the utility companies can leave some of their generators turned off until the sun set, hence saving energy. Utility companies only generate enough power to meet demand (insert joke here), and turn off generators during non peak hours. You might notice specifics time in your city, when the lights suddenly get a little bit brighter. This is a result of your local utility company bringing another generator on-line as demand ramps up.

In the winter months the sun rises at 6:30 am and sets at 4:30 pm. It doesn't make any sense to change the clocks because a large portion of the population is awake and turning on lights at 6 am and at 5 pm.
In the big picture, this doesn't save lots and lots of energy because in the modern world, lots of lighting is automatic and air conditioners run day and night in many parts of North American and Europe, but that one hour does make a difference.

Personally I don't buy that farmer thing... back in the day they woke up at sunrise anyways, regardless of what "time" it was on the clock.

Answer 2

Artists (and their record companies) release albums only during certain [key] times of the year. My choices do change with the seasons... but it also depends largely on my mood. During Winter I prefer to stay away from the same old festive x-mas music and choose to listen to other kinds of festive music. I haven't kept a record of it but other times I develop a taste for Progressive Rock music. PS. I would also like to point out that some music sounds different as the seasons change. It is the defining moment when we find out if a song (or artist) has staying power, or if it's gonna go down the gutter.

Answer 3

Daylight saving time (DST), also known as summer time, is a conventional local time adopted by many countries of the world on a seasonal basis. Most commonly DST is obtained by adjusting the official local time forward, by one hour, for the spring, summer, and early autumn periods.

DST is mostly used in temperate regions, due to the considerable variation in the amount of daylight versus darkness across the seasons in those regions.

Governments often promote it as an energy conservation measure, on the grounds that it allows more effective use of natural sunlight resource in summer time. Since there is less darkness in the "waking day", there is less use of electric lights. Some opponents reject this argument (see below, Criticism).

Europeans commonly refer to the system as "summer time": Irish Summer Time, British Summer Time, and European Summer Time. This is reflected in the time zones' names as well, e.g., Central European Time (CET) becomes Central European Summer Time (CEST).

The word "summer" in this context includes most of spring after the spring equinox and a large part of autumn. Likewise, the word "winter" here includes part of autumn and a few weeks in spring. This varies by time zone, of course, and can change over time as well.

Answer 4

I was brought up to believe as a child that it was for the farmers' benefit.
However, I also remember a year when the clocks were not altered and as a result many children got killed on their way to school. So maybe it is for the safety of our children too.
Either way we still get the same amount of daylight/nighttime whatever the clocks say!

Merry Christmas!

Answer 5

in the states they cal it daylight svaings time, which describes exactly what it does

the theory goes that people work from nine til five. So, changing the clocks capitalises on the time the sun is up so as to have those hours filled with sunshine and glee.

Personally, I'd say that it doesn't make too much sense in a modern society and it apparently has some road safety issues involved, but I'm no tom cruise.

Answer 6

There's no good reason for it; you get the same amount of daylight WHATEVER the big & little hands are pointing to ! Maybe politicians get some perverse pleasure out of wasting our time ? The argument about schools is bogus; Schools could easily start half an hour later in the winter if they wanted to, no need for all of us to change our time !

Answer 7

It stems back to the war,when farmers needed the extra hours for harvesting in the summer.In the winter there was a lull in activities,so the evenings were shortened.

Answer 8

because of the light, it is done so it is lighter in the mornings in the winter when people are going to work and school, and in the summer so we can have long evenings

Answer 9

a little english island.. where the children will have to wake up and go to school in the dark ..is the reason for the time change... strange, such a small number of people can change the time of the whole world!

Answer 10

It started during the war, so farmers would get more day light hours on the fields.