In Europe today is the end of daylight saving time. They are moving clocks one hour backward and will enjoy a long night’s sleep.
There are a lot of pros and cons in the world around this topic. Historians tell us that author of this clock-changing idea, then US ambassador in French, Ben Franklin made some math in 1784 and concluded that it could sell lots of candles for the people of Paris. But only in 1916 German Empire implemented this idea to save coal during the war.
In Russia this daylight saving time was in use until 2011 until the new president, Medvedev started a set of useless reforms. As a result, Russia was staying in the summer time for three years and then moved to regular time in 2014.
The proponents of time changing insist that electricity consumption could be reduced by this procedure. However, in modern life, we spend only a small fraction of energy for lightning. But A/C, fridge, and heating devices are working 24/7. And real saving is no more than 1%.
Opponents are pointing to a big mess in schedules during the changing time, health issues for people due to the shift in sleeping patterns. Well, now almost every device could adjust the time automatically and it’s not a big deal to follow these changes. And one hour shift is so small shift, that for most people it’s almost seamless.
There is no strong evidence against day-saving time, but no so many benefits from it either. I think it’s an obsolete concept, which will die in 21 century. But western governments should take a look at the Russian example to avoid the same mistakes in abandoning time changing practice.