Maintain summer time all year round against expensive energy and rising electricity and gas bills. This is the proposal of Sima, the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine. On October 30th we should go back to solar time, moving the hands of the clock back one hour. While the government’s plan to reduce consumption is taking shape, Sima is asking to abandon this “obsolete step” allowing families and businesses to save on electricity and gas bills. Read also “Politics discusses gas rationing for companies and reducing the duration of heating from next autumn, but forgets that already in 2018 the European Parliament approved with 84% of the votes in favor the abolition of the obligation to change open twice a year, effectively leaving the various states free to choose whether to opt for solar or summer time – explains the president Sima, Alessandro Miani – The permanent transition to summer time would allow you to gain an hour of daylight and solar heat every day and, considering the current gas prices, in our country it would determine savings on energy consumption estimated at around 1 billion euros in the first two years alone “. The energy savings resulting from the permanent adoption of summer time will allow between ‘other than to cut climate-altering emissions for a total of 200,000 tons of CO2 per year, with positive consequences on human health as well as economic savings due to the reduction of combustion of fossil fuels for lighting and heating – calculates Sima Before the surge in gas prices, Terna quantified the electricity saved in the 7 months of 2022 in which summer time is in force at 420 million kilowatt hours, with a lower consumption of electricity in 15 years equal to 10 billion kilowatt hours in Italy, for a total of 1.8 billion euros saved thanks to summer time. “This is why we ask the Draghi government to immediately take this decision delegated to the nation states by the European Parliament, inviting the other countries of the Union to do the same”, concludes Miani. use of artificial light at a time when work activities are still in full swing. In the summer months, the ‘delay’ effect in switching on the light bulbs is located in the evening hours, when work activities are mostly finished and records less evident values in terms of electricity savings. From 2004 to 2021, according to the analysis of the company led by Stefano Donnarumma, the lower consumption of electricity for Italy due to summer time was a total of about 10.5 billion kWh and led, in economic terms, to savings for citizens of over 1, 8 billion euros. The estimated economic benefit for the summer time period in 2022 was calculated considering that the cost of the average kilowatt hour for the ‘typical domestic customer in protection’ (according to Arera data) was approximately 46.03 euro cents per before taxes. The approximately 420 million kilowatt hours of lower electricity consumption are equivalent to the average annual needs of approximately 150,000 households. “On October 30, the hands of the clock should remain in place”, is the appeal also launched by the pediatrician Italo Farnetani, which in the same way proposes “the maintenance of summer time for the whole year. In the first place for a question of the health of the little ones. But not only”. But “the argument – the full professor of the Ludes-United Campus of Malta University highlighted at Adnkronos Salute – should be taken into consideration right now, in the midst of the energy crisis, when all options and saving possibilities are about to be evaluated. energy and reduction of bills. The debate, continues Farnetani, “has been going on for years. I was one of the first to propose the maintenance of summer time starting from a motivation linked to health. First of all, it is known that the shifting of the rhythms of the day, in particular the time of falling asleep and waking up, cause stress for the organism with the need for adaptation. And this leads to symptoms in a large segment of the population. Keeping summer time all year round would be a way to avoid these body ailments and promote health. The second reason is that, especially during the winter, an extra hour of light allows you to be more outdoors, meet people, do physical activity and therefore fight a sedentary lifestyle, overweight and obesity “. extra light, added Farnetani, “is particularly useful for pupils, who often have to do their homework in the early afternoon or stay in the classroom for those who attend full time. In addition to all these advantages, there is the considerable energy saving and cost reduction “. In light of these arguments, he insists,” I am surprised that the maintenance of summer time all year round has not been debated at the election campaign level. It has also been talked about at European level for years, even though the Union has left the choice and decision to individual states.