Does saving daylight save energy?

My Palm Pilot has been flashing at me since October 28. See, it believes Daylight Saving Time (DST) should have started already. Yeah, this isn't the latest model, so my Palm hasn't heard that the U.S. Congress changed when DST starts and stops.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 went into effect this year, so DST began three weeks earlier and ends one week later than before. The new "fall back" date is November 4, 2007.

The reason behind the change is energy savings. Previous DST adjustments during the 1970s oil embargo estimated that the U.S. saved the equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil each day thanks to DST. And the California Energy Commission calculated an energy savings of about one percent per day.

More recent studies about the energy savings of DST haven't been so positive, however. An Australian experiment around the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games suggested that electricity savings was 'significantly overstated.'

A 2007 report by the California Energy Commission contradicts its earlier findings and suggests that DST saves maybe one half of one percent, at most.

Can we really save energy when we save daylight? Hard to say. Maybe if we don't turn on a bunch of lights when the sun is still shining. And don't charge that Palm Pilot during the extra hour either.