Fall Back: Daylight Saving Time 2012 Ends Sunday

Ah, sleep.

Everyone gets an extra hour of slumber Saturday night as 2 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, marks the end of daylight saving time. (Yes, it's daylight saving time and not daylight savings time.)

Be sure to turn back your clock an hour as you go to bed Saturday night (or early Sunday morning, if you're out late) so you wake up at the correct time on Sunday.

And for those hitting the bars Saturday night, most establishments will not serve alcohol an extra hour, but it won't hurt to ask.

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Northfield Fire Department Capt. TJ Heinricy says the end of daylight saving time provides a great reminder to check your batteries in your clocks, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors.

Daylight saving time has been used in some fashion since 1916 and was started to help conserve fuel needed to produce electric power, according to WebExhibits.org. Its use changed several times over the next several decades.

For those interested, we spring ahead on March 11 and fall back Nov. 4 in 2012. In 2013, clocks go ahead on March 10 and are set back an hour on Nov. 3.

Each year, clocks are moved ahead an hour on the second Sunday in March and reverts to standard time on the first Sunday in November.

Not everywhere in the world—or United States and its territories—recognize daylight saving time.

According to WebExhibits.org, Hawaii, the American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands and Arizona all don't observe daylight saving time.

Here are some DST facts, according to webexhibit.org:

Following the 1973 oil embargo, the U.S. Congress extended daylight saving time to eight months, rather than the normal six months. During that time, the U.S. Department of Transportation found that observing daylight saving time in March and April saved the equivalent in energy of 10,000 barrels of oil each day—a total of 600,000 barrels in each of those two years.

Likewise, in 1986, daylight saving time moved from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. No change was made to the ending date of the last Sunday in October. Adding the entire month of April to daylight saving time is estimated to save the U.S. about 300,000 barrels of oil each year.

Beginning in 2007, daylight saving time commenced on the second Sunday in March and ended on the first Sunday in November, thereby saving even more oil.