MIKE MOSS SAYS:      Lynwood,    You are certainly correct that changing clocks doesn't alter the balance of sunlight and darkness for the year as a whole. The idea behind energy savings when using daylight time is that there tends to be more energy used in the evenings after work/school than in the morning before work/school, and by people working later in offices than by those working early, and that by shifting an hour of daylight into this period at the end of the day, there will be less need for artificial lighting for the day as a whole. Apparently, studies by the energy department and others have confirmed that this does have a measurable, non-trivial effect on lowering total energy consumption during the late spring to early fall, but the effects taper off and perhaps reverse sign during the winter months due to added electrical demand in the dark mornings. Because of this, there is some uncertainty as to whether any net energy savings will result from this year's extension of DST.