I pointed out another reason why the alleged energy effect might not happen, at least in areas with hot summers as with most of inland California: air conditioning. Not sure if that was ever figured into one of the studies, but in desert and near-desert urban areas the hottest part of the day is the last few hours of the afternoon and the first couple of hours after sunset (the latter as the heat island effect starts to bleed off). If people use timed thermostats, as many now do, that dial back the a/c while they're at work but turn it on shortly before they come home, that means that DST produces an hour more of a/c operation compared to Standard Time at the hottest part of the day. Gotta have some effect on the power system in general.

With a warming climate, more areas will probably run into this situation over time. Reducing power usage at peak times reduces the need for power from peaking plants that are almost universally fossil fueled and inefficient. So could eliminating DST be considered a small mitigation measure for global warming?