The spring-forward fall-back changes cost businesses money, and the promised energy savings have never materialized. Pro or con?
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Pro: A False Economy
Although Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been justified as an energy-conservation measure, it is no such thing.
Studies conducted by University of California researchers on Indiana before 2006, when the state operated under three different time regimes, and on Sydney, Australia, which extended DST to accommodate the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, show either no difference in energy consumption or a small increase in power usage during the months immediately after clocks were moved an hour ahead.
William F. Shughart II is a Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute, J. Fish Smith Professor in Public Choice at Utah State University, and editor of the Independent Institute book, Taxing Choice: The
Predatory Politics of Fiscal Discrimination.
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