UK news: another attempt to change the clocks likely to fail

[Paul Eggert]

Peter Ilieve <peter at aldie.co.uk> writes:

> I asked the person responsible for this at the Department of Trade
> and Industry for the government's view this morning. He said
> the government oppose this Bill. I said I wished people would
> stop trying to change the clocks. `You and me both' he said. :-)

The next time you call the government, you might mention Ryan Kellogg
and Hendrik Wolff's new paper "Does Extending Daylight Saving Time
Save Energy?  Evidence from an Australian Experiment", CSEM WP 163
(January 2007) <http://www.ucei.berkeley.edu/PDF/csemwp163.pdf>.

Kellogg and Wolff's paper is by far the most thorough study I have
ever seen of the issue.  They analyze the special DST put into place
for the 2000 Olypics in Australia, and conclude that there is no
evidence that daylight saving time decreased overall electrical
consumption, and there is some evidence that it led to higher peak
electrical loads.