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The study was made possible because of the peculiarities of the state of Indiana, which was only partially on DST until 2006. When the whole state finally went DST (to sync with the national business day), some comparisons vs. the prior method were made apparent. The study calculated that the shift costs Indiana residents an extra $8.6 million in electricity bills in total.

Why? Shouldn't they be, well, saving daylight -- and burning fewer light bulbs?

They are, said the study. But while lighting bills were reduced, air-conditioning units had to run more often, because people were home on hot afternoons when they'd otherwise be still at the office. Heaters had to be run on cool mornings, too, when people got up and it was still dark outside.

Professor Matthew Kotchen, who pioneered the study, noted, "I've never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this."

This isn't the first time the energy-saving rationale of Daylight Saving Time has been attacked. The first was in 1976, three years after DST went into effect, when the National Bureau of Standards found that there was no significant energy savings after the switch. The recent expansion of DST to a few extra weeks was also revealed to have saved no energy during its run. And yet here we are...

In related news, it was also revealed that Daylight Saving Time actually creates no additional daylight.

So maybe Arizona has the right idea about switching...

I'd heard that daylight saving time was originally proposed by Benjamin Franklin with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek and found this reference in an online article "End Daylight Saving Time view link

"The earliest known reference to the idea of daylight saving time comes from a purely whimsical 1784 essay by Benjamin Franklin, called "Turkey versus Eagle, McCauley is my Beagle."

Personally, I hate it but I know the golf enthusiasts & summer boaters love it....but it takes my body at least a month to adjust.

YES! I have never understood the rationale of energy savings to justify daylight savings time. And now, consider how many more homes have central heat/air vrs what there were in 1973 during the Arab oil embargo. Instead of turning on window a/c units or lighting their fireplaces when they get home, people leave their thermostats set all day. There is no change and therefore no energy savings.

When I lived north, the days are so short anyway that I went to work in the dark and came home in the dark during winter and the first two months of DST.

Years ago the word was that DST was more to help retailers than save energy. Longer evening hours meant more time for shoppers before dark. Remember back in those days, there were still many blue laws (no stores open on Sunday) as well as a limited number malls. Interesting concept

Thanks for the post and the opportunity to vent. Other studies have shown increased traffic accidents and suicides during the month following the time change, as well.

So nice to find there is really no rational reason to do this. Living in an outdoor recreation hot spot I understand why everyone wants more time in the sun. But I DESPISE people saying you get an extra hour of daylight. You just make me get up in the dark! When I worked with preschoolers they really didn't get it.

I wish they, whoever they are, would just leave it at regular time and forget about changing it to DST. Drives me crazy! It's an idea that has truly been outgrown. Let's forget about it already! Arizona definitely has the right idea!

If we just kept Daylight Saving Time nationwide all year long then it would be the right time everywhere - with a bonus of one extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, for the world to be alive and awake instead of cold and dark in the winter months. Who cares if you're going to work in slightly darker morning hours, it naturally lightens up a bit earlier as the seasons change anyway - you're going to work not play - that's generally at the end of the day when it's just so much nicer if it's lighter out.
As far as the energy bills - most people keep their thermostat at a steady setting in winter and then again in summer and if you get up in the AM and it's dark you put the lights on - if you get home in the evening and it's dark you put the lights on.

Some of us are really tied to sun time, just the way our brain works. I hate the change enough to agree with you. However, I live in an area where there is a lot of wildlife, they don't go on daylight savings time. Pretty soon here I will need to remember to peek out and be sure the neighborhood bear isn't around before heading out to warm up my car. Also being on the road at dawn is pretty dangerous here. Certainly having DST start so early is going to cost me more gas.

I once lived in Indianapolis ,, It got dark enough for the drive-in movies to start at 11;15 with DST

Studies I have found, that you can find one for the pro side and the con side. The up side and the down side. Every one is an expert these days.