07/11/2008, Mauritius - "The revival of daylight saving time : Energy conservation?",
No. 16578, L'Express Mauritius
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The revival of daylight saving time : Energy conservation?
Energy saving being one of the highlights of the budget, the government has decided that clocks will be moved ahead by one hour for five months. What impact will it have on the economy and people?s lives?
In his budget speech 2008-2009, Finance minister, Rama Sithanen, has announced government?s intention of reinstating Summer Time from 1st November 2008 to 31st March 2009 on a pilot basis. Daylight Saving Time (DST) is thus revived after being a big flop more than twenty-five years ago. Experimented in 1982 after the 60-0 of the MMM-PSM government, the project was rapidly struck out after much hassle and protests, since people had not really understood the real aim. The price of petrol at that time was not as high as it is now or is threatening to be in the near future.
Indeed, as proved in most industrialized countries, DST or Summer Time reduces the consumption of energy. Daylight Saving Time (or Summertime in many countries) is a way of getting more light out of the day by advancing clocks by one hour during the summer. During DST, the sun appears to rise one hour later in the morning, when people are usually asleep anyway and sets one hour later in the evening, seeming to stretch the day. The reason DST works is because it saves energy due to less artificial light being needed in the evening. In Mauritius, the Finance minister has said that the Summer Time project would reduce the normal energy consumption by 15 megawatts ? ?equivalent to the output of a small power station.?
The reduction of the energy consumed is done as such: people are home fewer hours during the ?longer days? of sunshine. Most people will plan outdoor activities in the extra daylight hours and thus won?t be home to turn on appliances and lights. A study of DST in the US has shown that energy use and demand for electricity for lighting homes is directly related to the times when people go to bed at night and rise in the morning. Thus, by moving the clock ahead one hour, the amount of electricity consumed each day is decreased.
However, while it is advantageous in reducing the energy consumption, there are some people who fear that DST may harm their business. Some people in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector are fretting over this issue. Flourishing on the fact that the time difference between Mauritius and European countries is hours, the working hours of most employees in the BPO sector is from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. A time frame, which is attractive and reasonable for Mauritians. However, once DST is introduced, the working hours will be from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. If this seems insignificant change, some BPO centres say they will have to bear the additional expenses of transport for the workers as from after 6 p.m.
Effects on the lifestyle of population.
Still, ? this is not going to affect us as we work 24/7, so our workers are used to working at night?, says the HR manager of Teleforma, a company that deals mainly with American clients. ? It?s not going to be so much of a change for us as we deal with American clients and the introduction of DST will not affect us seriously except for transport arrangements, which will have to be shuffled but at no cost?, declares Vik Sonatun, general manager of Apollo. The BPO centres that work round the clock 7 days a week and have clients in the United States are used to work on night shifts and rotation. Their agents being already used to working odd hours, are not going to find it difficult to adapt to such changes.
On a more social platform, there are arguments that the introduction of DST will have several effects on the lifestyle of population. Rajen Suntoo, a sociologist at the University of Mauritius gives his opinion on the issue. ?The introduction of DST will without doubt affect our society. But it will be a positive change. I agree that our waking and sleeping time will differ. Our working hours also will differ. However, with the tangible crisis in the world nowadays, we have to do it. Most countries have done it too.?
Indeed, countries from Pakistan to Namibia, from Iraq to New Zealand and Tunisia to Australia have adopted DST. This year only Canada has revised its DST according to the United States. ?In this world of globalisation?, explains Rajen Suntoo, ?the mentalities of people are changing. We should not underestimate the population to take a stead against this introduction, as they do understand this changing world. Besides, the government should not expect everyone to agree to this decision as in every society we have a minority that always disagrees. But, with time, they will learn to accept it.?
The trial period that the government has decided is from 1st November 2008 to 31st March 2009. If the result is positive in terms of the economic and social aspects, Day Light Saving Time will become a permanent feature in Mauritius.
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07/11/2008, Mauritius - "Le gouvernement avance l?introduction de l?heure d??t?",
No. 16578, L'Express Mauritius
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Africa Time Zone Map with current time and
Middle East / Western Asia Time Zone Map
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Le gouvernement avance l?introduction de l?heure d??t?
Le gouvernement compte introduire l?heure d??t? le 26 octobre au lieu du 1er novembre. Le ?Summertime Bill? sera pr?sent? au Parlement dans deux semaines.
Les proc?dures pour l?introduction de l?heure d??t? sont bien enclench?es. Un texte de loi, le Summertime Bill, dont l??bauche est d?j? pr?te, sera soumis au vote ? l?Assembl?e nationale dans deux semaines. Une vaste campagne de sensibilisation est ?galement en pr?paration.
Le dimanche 26 octobre, le r?veil risque d??tre difficile. Car dans la nuit de samedi ? dimanche, les Mauriciens auront dormi une heure de moins. Cons?quence directe de l?introduction de l?heure d??t?. Cette nuit-l?, ? deux heures du matin, la pendule avancera d?une heure.
Mais pourquoi cet empressement ? passer le texte de loi ? Tout simplement parce que le Parlement entre en cong? ? la fin du mois et que les travaux ne reprennent qu?en octobre. Et ce serait trop tard pour passer le texte de loi au vote ?tant donn? qu?une vaste campagne de sensibilisation aupr?s du public est requise afin de faire accepter la mesure.
C?est le 6 juin dernier, lors du discours du budget du vice-Premier ministre et ministre des Finances, Rama Sithanen, que l?heure d??t? a fait sa r?apparition. Mais depuis, il y a donc eu un changement. S?il avait ?t? annonc? que cela allait se faire le 1er novembre, il a finalement ?t? d?cid? d?avancer le calendrier d?une semaine, soit le 26 octobre.
La raison officielle ?tant qu?il faut s?aligner avec l?Europe et les Etats-Unis qui changent ?galement d?heure ? cette date. Reste que le 1er novembre est un jour f?ri? et que certains auraient argu? qu?il n?est pas propice d?effectuer ce changement un jour f?ri?.
Le passage ? l?heure d?hiver a ?galement ?t? avanc? d?une semaine et devrait se faire le 27 mars 2009. Cette nuit-l?, ce sera donc une heure de sommeil en plus.
Changement des heures de travail.
Si un certain nombre d?op?rateurs, dont ceux du tourisme, se r?jouissent de cette d?cision puisque la cons?quence directe de cette d?cision sera que le soleil se couchera une heure plus tard en ?t?, d?autres expriment cependant une certaine r?serve.
Parmi ceux-ci, les compagnies BPO et centres d?appels qui ont communiqu? leur opinion ? travers leur porte-voix, l?Outsourcing and Telecommunications Association of Mauritius (OTAM), lors d?une r?union lundi.
Celle-ci est d?avis que cette mesure alourdira les co?ts d?op?ration et risquerait de provoquer une h?morragie dans le secteur. Oblig?s de travailler selon les heures europ?ennes ou am?ricaines, d?pendant de leur client?le, les employ?s des compagnies BPO et des centres d?appels pourraient en effet ?tre oblig?s de changer leurs heures de travail pour terminer plus tard. Une contrainte qui aurait pu ?tre ?vit?e, estime-t-on au sein de l?OTAM.
?Nous aurions souhait? des consultations avec toutes les parties concern?es avant de proc?der. Les autorit?s ont quand m?me agi de mani?re unilat?rale?, regrette Vidia Mooneegan, pr?sident de cet organisme.
Abu Kasenally, ministre des Services publics, relativise cependant. ?Oui, certains ne sont pas tr?s chauds par rapport ? la mesure?, conc?de-t-il, ?mais comme dans toute d?cision, l?on ne peut avoir 100 % des gens qui sont partants. Nous devons agir dans l?int?r?t de la majorit?.
Et les autorit?s ont fait leurs calculs. Cette mesure permettra d??conomiser 15 m?gawatts durant les heures de pointe et pourrait ?viter au Central Electricity Board (CEB) d?avoir autant recours ? ses turbines ? gaz. En activit? surtout lorsqu?il y a des pointes de consommation, leur fonctionnement co?terait davantage ? la CEB qu?elles ne rapportent.
Selon les autorit?s, cette situation aura ?galement une r?percussion sur la facture d??lectricit? des consommateurs. Une heure de lumi?re naturelle de plus voudrait ?galement dire que les lampes et autres sources de lumi?re artificielle dans les foyers et ailleurs resteront ?teintes plus longtemps.
Une heure de soleil de plus en soir?e veut ?galement dire une heure d?activit? de plus pour tout le monde. C?est du moins la cons?quence souhait?e par le gouvernement.
?Cette mesure ne sera ?tablie que sur une base pilote et reconduite annuellement si elle se r?v?le b?n?fique et apporte non seulement les b?n?fices escompt?s en mati?re d??conomie d??nergie mais aussi en allouant plus de temps aux activit?s de loisirs, de shopping ou de sports entre autres?, devait indiquer Rama Sithanen lors de la pr?sentation de son budget.
L?heure d??t? motiverait-t-elle ainsi les op?rateurs ? rester ouverts une heure de plus et les Mauriciens ? rallonger leurs activit?s hors de leur domicile? Certains restent sceptiques. ?Si on dit que ?a permettra ? des Mauriciens de faire du shopping en d?but de soir?e pour disposer de davantage de temps le week-end pour les loisirs, je pense que c?est bien. Mais si on s?attend ? ce que ?a les encourage ? consommer plus, alors qu?ils consomment d?j? beaucoup, alors l? je dis non?, devait d?clarer l??conomiste Pierre Dinan r?cemment ? l?express.
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