A study by Cambridge University released this week estimates that the United Kingdom could save 885 GW per hour in the winter months, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 200,000 homes. This would reduce total carbon emissions by 446,925 tonnes.
“Electricity use is higher in the afternoons than in the mornings,” explains Elizabeth Garnsey, a lecturer in innovative research. Using a new calculation method, she has discovered that energy efficiency is greater with more hours of sunlight in the afternoon.
This is one of the arguments of proponents of the application of Central European Time (CET) -- GMT plus one hour. Over the years, the idea has been supported by surveys and Parliamentary bills, the latest of which was rejected in 2007. Surveys have indicated that changing the time could reduce road accidents and the number of cases of depression caused by Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
In summer, a time two hours ahead of GMT would favour the leisure and tourism industries. But changing the time zone is not on the cards in the UK.
“The report produced by MPs for the British Parliament said that Portugal had tried GMT+1 hour, and this was considered a reason for not using it in the UK,” says Elizabeth Garnsey. Between 1992 and 1996, Portugal adopted CET, used by most other countries in the European Union. Although it was convenient for communications and international transport, the change implemented by the then Prime Minister, Cavaco Silva, was criticised because it affected school timetables and made sleep difficult. Cavaco's successor, António Guterres, returned to the previous time and once more set the clocks to the same time as the United Kingdom, where the question of time has caused polemics for almost 130 years. At the beginning of the 20th century, the introduction of summer time in order to benefit from more sunshine was only implemented in 1916, because of the war.
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