Daylight Saving Time: Stupid

I had thought it was pretty stupid of Congress to move the boundaries of Daylight Savings Time based on projected (not proven, just estimated) energy savings that were measured in only millions of dollars. It was stupid because

• the change would be an inconvenience for a lot of people whose computers were programmed for the old time
• it would mess up peoples' habits
• it would require an unknown amount of money to be spent reprogramming computers (estimated here at up to $1 billion) and updating documents
• it may annoy the cows--but seriously, Congress should have known that unknown factors might negate any positive impacts
• it annoys us Canadians, who are forced to change our time zones too (granted, you can't expect Congress to care)
• the estimated savings were so small. I was not able to find a figure online, but I recall mere eight-figure sums were quoted by the media. Shouldn't Congress be thinking a little bigger?

Well, it turns out that a study of actual energy use (rather than an estimate based on some mathematical model) showed that DST uses more energy in Indiana.

• Think daylight saving time saves energy? Think again. Or not.