Watches in Spain are prepared for a weekend in which there is a time change. Like every year, the start of the spring station gives way a few days later Summer programWhat will be present in our country until the end of October, when the winter program starts again.
As usual with every time that changes, the debate in this regard comes. The initial intention was to introduce it to Save energy and take advantage of the natural light of the early hours of the dayAlthough this topic has lost weight over time, since consumption has changed, while more studies have come out that indicate that there is an impact on daily health and the population.
When it is the time change of 2025 in March
The summer program will begin during the Saturday morning early from 29 to Sunday 30Therefore At 02:00 (1:00 in the Canary Islands) it will be 03:00. According to the regulations in force, this summer program will last until 26 October.
The first change of time in Spain occurred in 1918Although neither between the 1920s and 1925 nor between 1930 and 1936 no time change occurred. Franco’s government resumed this measure in 1940 so that Spain had the same program as Nazi Germany and Central Europe countries. The summer program was resurrected in Spain and in the rest of Europe in the 70s for the oil crisis and until there are progress at European level, it will remain in force.
Change of end time? This is what the Boe says
THE European Union (EU) It establishes a date and time common to all Member States for the beginning and end of the well -known summer program. The latest communication from the European Commission in this regard was 2021. So it was transferred when the changes had to be produced until 2026: respectively the last weekends of March and October, at 02:00. This is reflected in the official state Gazette.
This does not mean that from 2026 it will cease to exist time. And it is that the EU Council, which represents the governments of the member countries, He has not yet made a final decision about itDespite the fact that the European Parliament has already supported the proposal of the European Commission in 2019 in favor of allowing each state to decide in a public consultation whether to maintain its current program or establish a definitive one without white adjustments. For this measure to be applied, both the Parliament and the Council must agree.
No consent in Europe
In the public consultation conducted on this issue at the European Commission in 2018, 93% of the participating Spanish supported the elimination of the time changeMore than the European average, which was 84%. In the same year, the government accepted a commission of experts for the study of the reform of the official time, responsible for the processing of a report of evaluating the regulatory provisions of the time change, as well as on the convenience of maintaining the time of central Europe in our country.
In his report, dated 20 March 2019, this commission concluded that “It was not advisable to produce any change precipitated during times It is a practical diffusion to our citizenship of the risks and opportunities it entails. “As indicated, the” prudent “of the executive would be to maintain the seasonal change and be sufficiently consolidated and shared nutrients.
What is saved with the change of time
Him Institute for diversification and energy saving (Idae) He stressed that he did not conduct studies, progress or works relating to the change of time in recent years and stressed that in Spain there are no updated relationships that allow to ensure that the change of time has associated energy savings members. “The latest data of 2015 and in no case have the impact of the change of time in a context like the current one was analyzed,” he insisted.
According to the agency, the most current report on the subject was prepared by Industrial Commission, research and energy of the European Parliament In 2018. As detailed in investigations, although the seasonal changes of time can produce savings, these are marginal and there is no certainty that the benefits are obtained in all EU member states.
In turn, it also affects that although there may be energy savings in lighting, it is not so obvious that the same thing happens with heating, where its consumption could even be increased. In addition, it underlines that the results are difficult to interpret since they are influenced by external factors, such as meteorology or user behavior.
Idae stressed that hourly exchange studies require prolonged analysis over time to evaluate stationary situations. So, he remembered it The change of time has been approved at a time with different life habits that could influence the consumption of energy to a greater extent (For example, the extension of teleworking).
He also underlined it The analyzes used to calculate this data were “significantly” For new energy efficiency needs in lighting, in air conditioning systems and in the same buildings, as well as in the progressive introduction of cars -consum.
The preference of the Spaniards: win the summer program
A survey conducted in 2024 by Organization of consumers and users (OCU) With a sample of 1,337 people concluded it 70% of the Spaniards prefer the summer program compared to 23% in favor of the winter program.
However, a recent world study in which he participated Darío AcuñaEmeritus professor of Department of Physiology of the University of GranadaHe warned of the negative biological impact that the change of time has on people and opted to maintain the winter program, being more balanced.
In particular, the work claims that the variations of light in all stations are soft to allow human adaptation, the softness that change to the summer program breaks. In addition, the winter program avoids excess light in the afternoon and night, considered harmful to health by altering people’s chronobiotic system.
