Egypt reintroduce Daylight Saving Time(DST)

Egyptian cabinet announced, that from 31^st July midnight, Egypt will put its clock forward by an hour to readjust with the Daylight Saving Time (DST).

This will initiated at 11:59 pm local time.

It was to be applied in late May, but then cancelled during the holy month of Ramadan to shorten the fasting period of Muslims.

The DST is reintroduced in Egypt of DST is under the pretext that it would save energy.

The DST was first adopted in Egypt in 1988 as a way to reduce energy consumption.

In Egypt, standard time is GMT (UTC)+2. After the DST Time , the GMT of Egypt will be GMT+3. 

What is Daylight saving time (DST)?

Daylight saving time (DST) or summer time is the practice of advancing clocks during the summer months.

The main aim of advancing clocks is to have more daylight so that people get up earlier in the morning and experience more daylight in the evening.

Generally, clocks are adjusted forward one hour near the start of spring and are adjusted backward in the autumn.

The modern idea of daylight saving was first proposed in 1895 by George Vernon Hudson.

It was first implemented by Germany and Austria-Hungary starting on 30 April 1916.

Many countries have used it at various times since then, most consistently since the energy crisis of the 1970's. 

[Note- The 1970's energy crisis was a period in which the economies of the major industrial countries of the world, particularly the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand were heavily affected and faced substantial petroleum shortages,due to elevated prices.]

DST adopting and non-adopting countries

It is postulated that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, but the actual effect on overall energy use.

This practice has been both advocated and criticized.

Early goal of DST was to reduce evening use of incandescent lighting (formerly a primary use of electricity), modern heating and cooling usage patterns using energy.

Putting clocks back benefits retailing, sports, and other activities that exploit sunlight after working hours.

But it can, cause problems in evening entertainment and other activities which are related to the sun (such as farming) etc.

Other Problems sometimes caused by DST clock shifts are:

• They complicate timekeeping.
• They can disrupt meetings, travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns.
• Software can often adjust computer clocks automatically, but this can be limited and error-prone, particularly when DST dates are changed.