Retracting the Sri Lankan clock! It calls for serious consideration

We are now a nation of early birds

K.A.I. KALYANARATNE

Initial attempts made in 1983

THE issue regarding advancing the Sri Lankan clock appears to have had a chequered past, and the dialogue in recent times seems to have been initiated by our most celebrated science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, some forty three years ago, in 1967.

However, the concept of advancing our clock by half an hour, gathered momentum in November 1983. President J.R. Jayawardene, in his capacity of Minister of Power and Energy, sought the views of the concerned ministries on whether Sri Lanka should advance the clock by half and hour.

Advantages and disadvantages

The standard times as accepted then in Sri Lanka was 5 hours and 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and the following pointers were brought to the attention of the ministries in arriving at a decision.

The advantages and disadvantages of advancing the time by half an hour, that were listed then were as follows:

(i) international communications and travel by air or sea becomes more convenient with more than 150 member countries of the UN.

(ii) a saving of 20 million units (Gwh) of electricity per year is envisaged.

(iii) most employed workers as well as students will have to get up half an hour earlier than usual and go to bed half an hour earlier. Changes will initially cause some inconveniences.

(iv) Half and hour more of day light than Lankans are used to will be available to many people in the evenings.

(v) The energy advisors pointed out that the daylight saving achieved by advancing the clock will shift the 'peak demand curve for electricity in a desirable manner'.

(vi) The main saving of electrical energy will be due to savings on normal electrical illuminations.

(vii) It was further pointed out that in order to achieve the desired electrical energy savings estimated, radio and TV programmes as well as all nocturnal activities including entertainment, need to stay fixed to the advanced clock.

(viii) It was also insisted that opening and closure of all public and private establishments should continue to follow the same time schedule.

What Arthur C. Clarke said on change of time

However, having considered the concept at length, the 1983 deliberations came to a dead-end. It was at this time that Arthur C. Clarke made the following observations in the Daily News of November 28, 1983.

"I have been advocating this for twenty years without success pointing out the extreme inconvenience of the half hour in an age of international air schedules, phone calls and radio and TV broadcasts.

However, the additional argument in favour of saving energy now seems to make the case overwhelming and I trust the government will now go ahead as soon as possible.

"The only practical inconvenience would be the half hour difference with India; and I hope we can persuade our northern neighbour to recognize the advantage of the change and go along with us. Here is the small reform in which Sri Lanka can lead way!"

The extraordinary measure taken in 1996

The next phase of the issue was when the country re-experience spells of drought in 1996, due to terrestrial factors caused by abnormal / freak weather patterns.

It was further observed that droughts were becoming more acute and frequent, mainly because of

(a) merciless devastation of the country's vegetative cover, especially in the central montane forests. i.e, the catchment areas feeding the hydro-electric power sources, (A hundred years ago 82 per cent of the country had been covered by forests, and now it is but mere 18 per cent!)

(b) unplanned power generation vis-a-vis the insatiable demand or electricity resulting from the expanding economic activity and the use of varied household electrical items coupled with an increasing growth of office complexes, commercial establishments and the on-going rural electrification programmes.

It was to minimize the imbalance in power generation that during the drought of 1996, that the then government resorted to the extraordinary measure of advancing the clock by one hour, and subsequently readjusted to advance the time by half an hour.

A nation of early birds

With the adoption of the new time by advancing the standard time by half an hour, our normal night activities have been shortened by half an hour and daytime activities enhanced by half an hour.

A person who had been up from 0500 h to 2200 h engages in his normal daily activities for a period of 17 hours, prior to effecting the change in the clock, had continue to conform to the same life pattern, by engaging in his activities during the same spread of 17 hours even after effecting the change.

But in the reality, with the change he had been up by 0430 h on the previous clock and had gone to bed at 2130 h on the previous clock. Hence, what he had done has been to get up half an hour early and go to bed half an hour early. In this sense he had been an 'early bird'.

If further means that the people who now get up early have a longer day time to engage in their activities, than what it had been previously. This healthy trend has its impact on all human activities, including children's studies, school activities, sports, social and business/ commercial activities.

If we take for instance a simple example of a cricket match that would be played from 1030 h to 1730 h, with the 30 minute advance in time, 1030 h to 1730 h would mean 1100 h to 1800 h on the old clock. What an advantage if the match is to be continued for an additional period.

On the new clock, sunset would be around 1845 h - 1900 h. If it was prior to the change it would be 1815 h - 1830 h, on the old clock.

Additional time accrued and energy saved

Thanks to weather gods and more specifically due to the prudent handling of such crises by the change effected to the Sri Lankan time, we have been spared the unpleasant experiences of power-cuts day in and day out, both in 1983 and 1996.

What is more important in deciding on national issues of such magnitude is to analyze in socio-economic terms the benefits of the 'half an hour time advance' effected in 1996. It's now a decade since we switched over to this new time pattern. The basic questions that would come to one's mind in this regard are:

1. Have the authorities undertaken a comparative study of the benefits accrued in financial terms, by way of energy saved during the 10 year period, i.e., from 1996 to 2006? Such a study should necessarily take into consideration the performances of the export and banking sectors.

2. What would have been the impact on our economic, commercial and financial activities had the crises been allowed to continue almost perennially?

3. Academic, sports and social spheres too would, for certain, get a jolt, had there been intermittent power-cuts to save hydro-electricity generation.

4. What would have been the impact on the country's image and more specifically on the investor-climate had the 'misery' continued unabated?

5. Is the country now in a favourable position to guarantee continued generation of electricity without resorting to costly power-generation methods, even during phases of drought?

6. When would the Norochcholai coal-power plant and the Upper-Kotmale hydro power plant be able to add their shares to the national grid?

7. What guarantee would be there that such additions to the national grid would relieve the country of insatiable demand for electricity?

8. Has it been worked out with near-accuracy, on a periodic basis, the gap between the increasing demand for energy and what all the electricity generation resources would produce?

We are now a nation of early birds

Chasing efficiency - clock is ticking on production peak. Even if we leave aside all the above quandaries the very fact that we as a nation wake up half an hour earlier than what we were used to, would be a tremendous plus point in favour of retaining and continuing with the status quo. The entire nation is now attuned to this life pattern.

The practice of changing time to save energy is being resorted to in many a country on a seasonal/ annual basis. In Britain and European countries the official time is usually adjusted forward one hour from its official standard time remaining that way for the duration of the spring and summer months.

This is intended to provide a better match between the hours of day light and the active hours of work and school. This adjustment is referred to as the 'daylight savings time (DST)'.

This is also a kind of 'Energy Conservation' measure, as it allows more efficient use of natural sunlight resource. By getting people to go to bed and get up earlier, use of electric lights can be reduced considerably, as it has a cumulative effect.

Daylight saving time (DST) is more a socio-economic issue

Our socio-cultural environment is such that any issue is first looked at from a political perspective. There's nothing wrong in looking at/ analyzing issues politically. But the ultimate determinants that decide the country's future are the socio-economic factors.

Hence, above all, they should be treated as the forerunners in any decision-making process. The nation has reaped the benefits of the time-change effected ten years ago and it had worked as a catalyst in chasing efficiency.

It should, therefore, prevail up on the authorities concerned that any decision either to continue with the change or to revert has far reaching ramifications.

Let us, therefore, hope and wish that a sane and safe energy policy would guide the nation through in this critical issue. I would prefer to conclude this essay with a quotation from Niccolo Machiavelli's 'The Prince'.

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things".

The writer is a Management Consultant