Daylight saving time is back, and maybe it’s here to stay

During the night, between Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 March, the clocks will move forward one hour. An extra hour of daylight, an hour less of sleep and a common objective: to save energy by reducing the use of electric lighting.

With daylight saving time, it isn’t the hours of light that change, but our behaviours: we take advantage of the availability of natural light, which is usually “wasted” due to the habits of time. Moving the clocks forward one hour postpones the use of artificial light while business activities are still in progress and, therefore, saves energy.

However, this is great news for the Italian and European electricity systems... and for the environment! According to Terna, operator of the Italian high-voltage electricity grid, adopting daylight saving time all year round will bring many benefits in terms of energy savings, safety and adequacy of the transmission service and environmental sustainability. Terna's forecasts confirm an overall annual benefit for the electricity system of around 800 million kilowatt hours, corresponding to a reduction of 400,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions and an overall annual savings of €160 million.