March 29, 2024 by one of our editors
The European Commission has proposed to abolish the current system of changing the clock every six months. Whether that will happen remains to be seen not clear. The Netherlands could do that alone. The current government believes it is important that time remains the same in us and in the countries around us as much as possible. That is why the government will only take a position when it is clear what the neighboring countries are doing.
Dutch research does not provide a clear picture when it comes to a Dutch preference for one of the 3 time systems:
- the current system with a changeover between summer time and winter time;
- a permanent winter time;
- permanent summer time.
An independent research agency has asked a representative group of Dutch people what they think about the abolition of summer and winter time. In addition, this agency conducted interviews with various representatives of society and the business community. The government has asked biorhythm experts their opinion about summer and winter time.
‘Always summer time’ has more opponents
Nothing changes in the summer. On June 21, the sun rises at 5:20 am. And sets again around 10 p.m. In winter it gets light an hour later. And the sun sets an hour later. On December 21, the sun will rise at 9:45 AM (instead of 8:45 AM) and set again at 5:30 PM (instead of 4:30 PM).
Always daylight saving time has more opponents than supporters. Longer light is experienced as an advantage, the dark mornings as a disadvantage.
Don’t change anything
Change the clock twice a year. Nothing will change compared to now. On June 21, the sun rises at 5:20 am. And sets again around 10 p.m. On December 21, the sun rises at 8:45 am and sets again at 4:30 pm. See the image above this article.
This current system has more opponents than supporters. The longer light is experienced as an advantage, but is seen as worse for the rhythm. It is also experienced as inconvenient.
Switching to ‘always winter time’ / ‘standard time’ has most proponents
Nothing changes in the winter. On December 21, the sun rises at 8:45 am. And sets again around 4:30 PM. In summer it gets light an hour earlier. And the sun sets an hour earlier. On June 21, the sun will rise at 4:20 AM (instead of 5:20 AM) and set again at 9:00 PM (instead of 10:00 PM).
Always standard time receives more support than always summer time or changing the clock every six months. Always standard time is seen as better for the bio and sleep rhythm
But the minister writes: From a practical and economic point of view, people are not looking forward to an adjustment, because adjustments always cost money and increase the chance of errors.
So that is the ultimate conservative argument for always leaving everything the same.
In the meantime, it is clear that keeping in line with the rest of our time zone is decisive. Internationally operating sectors in particular unanimously underline the importance of time harmonization within the same time zone, otherwise people fear loss of productivity. And ultimately all change costs money. So everything will remain the same for the time being
