Luxembourg changes its clocks to winter time. Will it help save energy?

Luxembourg changes its clocks to winter time on 30 October at 3 am.

Clocks throughout the Grand Duchy will move back an hour tonight as the country shares the same time zone.

The purpose of the clock change is to conserve energy in the winter, spending less electricity on lighting in the early hours. However, the Luxembourg Regulatory Institute (ILR) believes that this measure makes little sense. «What we gain in the morning is lost in the darker early evenings.» The Institute doesn’t even include two annual clock changes in its calculations.

According to ILR, switching clocks to winter time is more a tribute to tradition than an effective solution. It hasn’t really been revised since its introduction in the 1970s. Then it was provoked by one of the first oil shocks in the region. Energy has abruptly become the most important resource, and numerous measures have been taken to conserve it, including some less thoughtful ones.

Energy supplier company Creos also believes that there is no real benefit to changing the clocks. And it won’t help much, if at all. Especially if the current crisis turns out to be as massive as the one that shook the region half a century ago.