Scientists warn of consequences of cancelling daylight saving time and call on Zelensky to intervene
18 July 2024 10:23
The Academy of Sciences of Higher Education appealed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto the law cancelling daylight saving time. The scientists explained this by increasing the cost of lighting in the evening in spring, summer and autumn. The appeal was published on the institution’s website, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The Academy of Sciences of Higher Education noted that today there are no authoritative studies recognised by the global scientific community that would show a serious negative impact of seasonal time change on the physiological and psychological state of a person.
“And this is quite understandable: after all, tens of millions of people regularly travelling around the world change time zones not twice a year, but much more often, and not by one hour, but by a longer time interval. This does lead to some temporary discomfort, but it does not have long-term negative consequences and is not a reason to refuse to travel outside your time zone,” the statement said.
The scientists stressed that today, despite the introduction of energy-saving lamps, the issue of reducing energy costs for lighting remains relevant. And the adoption of the draft law “On Timekeeping in Ukraine” will mean that at the end of June, it will dawn in Kyiv at 3 am and get dark at 8 pm.
“This will significantly increase the costs of electric lighting for institutions, businesses and households in the evening in spring, summer and autumn, which will have a particularly noticeable effect in the context of constant power outages caused by the destruction of energy infrastructure. Instead, sunlight will be wasted in the morning,
– the Academy explained.
According to the scientists, with this decision, “Ukraine has moved away from the practice of calculating time commonly used in EU countries.”
“Despite the introduction of energy-saving lamps, the issue of reducing energy costs for lighting remains relevant, as reflected, among other things, in the recommendations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. That is why the world’s leading countries continue to practice setting clocks back one hour in the summer months. This is done in almost all US states, Canadian provinces, the United Kingdom, and all EU countries without exception (despite the fact that in the EU, starting in 2021, the issue of introducing daylight saving time is no longer the responsibility of Brussels, but of national governments),” the scientists explained.
They stressed that non-democratic states such as Russia, Belarus, and China have abandoned the use of daylight saving time.
The Academy of Sciences of Higher Education of Ukraine was founded in 1992. It unites more than 400 leading scientists, doctors of sciences and professors working in all research centres and representing all fields of knowledge.
Law on cancellation of daylight saving time
on 16 July, the Verkhovna Rada cancelled the change of time from winter to summer in Ukraine .
After the President signs the bill, the country will switch to winter time for the last time in autumn 2024. From 2025 onwards, there will be no more daylight saving time.
Starting from 2025, Ukraine will be on exclusively “winter time” with increased electricity consumption.
The difference with EU time will be two hours. After the president signs the bill, timekeeping throughout Ukraine will be based on the “single” Kyiv time, the second time zone in the UTC 2 scale.
Prior to this decision, Ukraine used to live on Eastern European time and set its clocks twice a year: on the last Sunday of March, daylight saving time, and on the last Sunday of October, winter time.
The Verkhovna Rada attempted to cancel the change of clocks, but MPs did not support the bill as a whole.
Draft law No. 4201 has been under consideration in parliament since 2020.
In particular, on 3 March 2021, the Verkhovna Rada passed the draft law “On Timekeeping in Ukraine” in the first reading, but only 212 MPs voted for it on 19 March. After that, the draft law on cancelling daylight saving time was sent back for revision.
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