Time To Move Those Clocks Forward

On Sunday, October 19th, at 12:00am, residents and visitors here will have to move their clocks forward one hour as part of a government plan to save energy. The daylight savings plan, which is similar to one enacted last December amid an energy crisis, is set to last through mid-March, though an official start and end date has not been formally announced.

In its typically cryptic and unpredictable manner, the government, less than a week before the time change is supposed to take effect, has not formally announced its plan. But in off-the-record conversation, officials have said the government plans to announce its decision this week.

Energy Secretariat and Planning Ministry officials hope the time change, which will put Argentina two hours ahead of New York and two behind Greenwich Mean Time, will curb power consumption as homes and businesses wait another hour to turn on lights while benefiting from an extra hour of sunshine.

Energy experts like Carlos Pierro, former president of the oil company YPF and vice president of the Argentine Committee to the World Energy Council, say the time change does relatively little to reduce power demand. But proponents say every little bit counts. An Energy Secretariat study of last year’s time change indicates that one key measure of demand in the City of Buenos Aires fell by 5% because of the extra sun. But it’s unclear how many provinces will adopt the new time. As happened last year, officials from several provinces already have voiced opposition to the measure. Mendoza Province has already decided to keep its own clock three-to-four hours behind GMT, meaning it will be out-of-sync with the rest of the country beginning Sunday.

Last week Uruguay moved its clock up, putting it one hour ahead of Argentina. It will remain at the new time until March.

Daylight savings is a controversial way to save energy and it has been intensely debated in many countries, including the U.S. It was first introduced in a major way in Austria and Germany in 1916.

The time change last year produced unintended consequences. Restaurant owners in coastal towns like like Mar del Plata complained that too many potential customers were eating dinner on the beaches, and taking advantage of the extra sunlight, instead of eating inside. With a global financial crisis threatening to crimp tourism, if the time change is the biggest problem these restaurants face this summer, it could be the least of their concerns.

(In 1999, confusion over daylight savings time reportedly led terrorists to blow themselves up while trying to set bombs in Israel. The West Bank was on Summer Time while the terrorists’ counterparts, who eventually placed the bombs, were in Israel, which had just switched to Standard Time. The terrorists in Israel were unaware of the time change, however, and it cost them dearly as the bombs had been set to explode an hour before expected by those on the Israeli side of the border.)

*The estimable Nate Martin, who contributed to The Argentine Post earlier this year and last, posted a fine piece about last year’s time change here.

**Because of Argentina’s unpredictable approach to daylight savings time, some of you may have noticed that your computers (especially if you’re Mac or Linux users) jumped ahead by an hour earlier this month. The reason for this is a bit hard to explain, but if you’re a nerd, you can see an article about it here, in Spanish.

Link: Daylight Savings Time Site (excellent info & trivia)

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