Remember, clocks go forward tonight

DON’T FORGET, the clocks go forward an hour tonight.

At 2am tomorrow, the clocks go forward to mark the start of summer time, and make better use of natural daylight - though it is bad news for everyone who likes their bed.

According to l’Agence de l’environnement et de la maîtrise de l’énergie (ADEME), 440gwh of electricity were saved and 44,000 tons of CO2 emissions avoided during daylight saving in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available.

The idea of daylight saving may never have happened if it were not for a joke by American ambassador to France, Benjamin Franklin. He wrote an essay called “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light” published in The Journal of Paris in 1784, which suggested that Parisians could save on candles if they got out of bed earlier in the morning and made use of natural morning light.

Franklin’s joke became reality during the First World War, when it was employed to save coal for the war effort. It was revived for the Second World War, but abandoned when hostilities ended.

Italy became the first European country to reintroduce daylight saving in 1966.

France followed suit a decade later. In 1998, daylight saving was harmonised across the European Union, so that all countries moved their clocks forward on the last Sunday in March, and back on the last Sunday in October.

Also read: The Breton island with two time zones

Photo: The Italian Voice