From the daylight time FAQ:
Starting in 2007, daylight time begins in the United States on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. On the second Sunday in March, clocks are set ahead one hour at 2:00 a.m. local standard time, which becomes 3:00 a.m. local daylight time. On the first Sunday in November, clocks are set back one hour at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time, which becomes 1:00 a.m. local standard time. These dates were established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. no. 109-58, 119 Stat 594 (2005).
From the inbox:
How timely that a fresh study [see below] shows that daylight savings time is counterproductive! The savings in lighting is more than offset by the extra cost of heating and cooling. Sometimes symbols (nominally saving energy) are costly. Now the case will have to be based on minimizing the time that kids have to be in the dark going to school or something like that. This time of year the extra week of DST means that kids have one MORE week of dark mornings.
Does Daylight Saving Time Save Energy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Indiana
Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant
NBER Working Paper No. 14429
October 2008
JEL No. H43,Q4,Q5,Q51ABSTRACT
The history of Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been long and controversial. Throughout its implementation during World Wars I and II, the oil embargo of the 1970s, consistent practice today, and recent extensions, the primary rationale for DST has always been to promote energy conservation. Nevertheless, there is surprisingly little evidence that DST actually saves energy. This paper takes advantage of a natural experiment in the state of Indiana to provide the first empirical estimates of DST effects on electricity consumption in the United States since the mid-1970s. Focusing on residential electricity demand, we conduct the first-ever study that uses micro-data on households to estimate an overall DST effect. The dataset consists of more than 7 million observations on monthly billing data for the vast majority of households in southern Indiana for three years. Our main finding is that—contrary to the policy's intent—DST increases residential electricity demand. ... We estimate a cost of increased electricity bills to Indiana households of $9 million per year. We also estimate social costs of increased pollution emissions that range from $1.7 to $5.5 million per year. Finally, we argue that the effect is likely to be even stronger in other regions of the United States.
