Indiana's experiments with daylight savings time used to estimate increased energy use and pollution!

From Katherine Mangu-Ward in Reason...

in a new NBER study, economist Michael J. Kotchen and environmental scientist Laura E. Grant find that:

daylight saving time actually increases demand for energy takes advantage of a natural experiment in Indiana. The state used to harbor several counties in open rebellion against daylight saving time, but that came to an end in 2006, when a federal mandate forced the counties to fall into line.

Kotchen and Grant estimate that the change cost $9 million a year in higher electricity bills and $1.7 million to $5.5 million a year in pollution emissions. They say the effect is likely to be stronger in other, less temperate parts of the United States.