By Chris Welby, Good Energy’s Commercial Director

The clocks go forward, and we have that traditional debate about whether we should go the double British Summer time.  This year the debate has been given a climate change twist as someone has calculated that there would be an energy/carbon saving in doing so.  Our friends at 10:10 think it’s a good idea.  As does Tim Yeo, a Conservative MP and a bit of an influential guy behind the scenes.

So should we do it?  From a personal perspective, as someone who leaves home in the morning before 7:00, I spend a lot of the winter coming to work in the dark and look forward to lighter mornings.  If it is light when I get to work I do not tend to put the lights on, but if I do then once they’re on, apathy (even in the Good Energy office) means they stay on.  So we may use more energy.

I am not that keen on lighter evenings.

There is something unnatural about going to bed in the light.  My two year old son certainly thinks so at the moment and gives me a strange look when I say “bed time!” and the sun is still shining.  I was in Iceland a few years ago, and found 24 hour daylight very unnerving – although the geothermal power stations looked great and I am dying to go back and investigate further.  (Maybe in 24 hour darkness!)

That said, if the sums add up on the carbon saving then it will not be a significant intrusion on life.  After all, in this day and age of a 24 hour society, does light and dark matter?  We would get the same amount of daylight; it’s just that “early to bedders” like me will sleep through some of it!

Support the 10:10 campaign.