On Sunday 29th March 2015 the clocks will go forward one hour, marking the start of British Summer Time and making the mornings darker and the evening longer.
For years lobbyists have been trying to get British Summer Time adopted on a permanent basis and align the UK clocks with clocks on the continent.
Of course it isn’t just an extra hour of sunlight which provides a reason for adopting Daylight Savings Time all year round and the following are some we should consider:
- Energy Savings – Researchers at the University of Cambridge have found that an extra hour of daily sunlight in winter could save £485 million each year as people would use less electricity and heating. This equates to around £20 a year saving for each household.
- Tourism Boost – Longer and lighter evenings would provide an annual boost to the economy via tourism as it would create extra jobs, businesses would be more inclined to stay open longer and tourists would be able to spend more time outside. This is estimated to add £3.5 billion to the tourism industry and around 230 hours of post work daylight each year!
- Business Benefits – When the clocks go forward one hour it will mean we will be in line with Central European Time and will be operating the same time as many major European cities. For any businesses that operate internationally this could help cut overtime costs and ease confusion over time differences.
So whilst everyone will be complaining about losing that extra hour in bed on a Sunday morning, here at DCA we are saying Roll on Sunday!
