Much fuss has been made in northern countries such as the United States, Mexico and Europe about the time change for the spring season.
April and November are difficult months for people because of the time change. People’s biorhythm is abruptly altered by such a disposition. Less sleep and different eating schedules put a strain on everyone’s daily routine.
There has been much talk about the advantages of moving forward one hour, but the reasons for doing so date back to other times, when it was difficult to generate energy for large cities. These provisions no longer fit in today’s times, i.e. electricity grids between countries are so advanced that if, for example, Panama needs electricity it can buy it from Guatemala and everything is fine. Guatemala is one of the most important energy producers in the region after a reform that happened in the 90’s, after a blackout crisis that caused damage to the economy. Guatemala is interconnected with Central America and several Mexican states and can sell to them without running out of supplies.
During the last few days a time change was made and according to authorities in Mexico, USA and Spain, all agree that the savings are imperceptible. If the problem is savings, several companies have already developed technologies that allow it, i.e. low voltage bulbs and various household appliances that allow savings.
The debate started in Europe and the consensus has been that the population has shown its dissatisfaction with the time change and prefers winter time, i.e. to be at the same time as Guatemala.
In the United States, the initiative to stop changing the time is already echoing and it seems that by 2023, when it returns to November of that year, it will be the last time it will be changed. In Mexico, the initiative has already been presented and it seems that this provision will also be annulled and thus we will all have the same time. In Guatemala, due to our geographical position, we do not have 16 to 18 hour days as in the poles. The time has been changed twice, once for savings, which did not help, and again in 2006, which was the last time and it was demonstrated that there is no such savings. So, good for governments to repeal this measure that has no benefit whatsoever.
