U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Earth Day: April 22, 2016

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Apr 22, 2016, 07:57 ET

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- April 22, 2016, marks the 46th anniversary of Earth Day ― a day intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. Organizers started Earth Day in response to a massive oil spill in waters near Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1969. In honor of Earth Day ― and Earth Week (April 18-22) ― this edition of Profile America Facts for Features includes examples of Census Bureau statistics pertaining to energy and the environment.

Renewable Energy

$9.7 billion
Revenues in 2012 for electric power generation industries that use renewable energy resources, such as hydro, wind, geothermal, biomass, solar and other electric power generation. This figure is up 46.5 percent from $6.6 billion in 2007.
Source: 2012 Economic Census
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/22A1//naics~22111|221111|221114|221115|221116|221117|221118
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2007_US/22A2

716
The number of wind, geothermal, biomass, solar and other electric power generation business establishments in 2012, more than double the number of establishments (312) in 2007.
Source: 2012 Economic Census
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/22A1//naics~22111|221111|221114|221115|221116|221117|221118
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2007_US/22A2

5,347
The number of employees in wind electric power generation establishments, the most among the industries using renewable energy in 2012.
Source: 2012 Economic Census
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/22A1//naics~22111|221111|221114|221115|221116|221117|221118

$5.1 billion
Revenues for the wind electric power generation industry in 2012, the highest among the industries using renewable energy resources. Hydroelectric power generation followed with revenues of $2.5 billion. Geothermal electric power generation had revenues of just under $1 billion ($981.2 million), followed by biomass electric power generation, with $721.5 million in revenues, solar electric power generation, with $427.6 million, and other electric power generation, with $43.4 million.
Source: 2012 Economic Census
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/22A1//naics~22111|221111|221114|221115|221116|221117|221118

Heating and Cooling the Home

2.5 million
Estimated number of occupied housing units across the country primarily heated by wood in 2014, which is 2.1 percent of all homes.
Source: 2010-2014 American Community Survey five-year estimates, Table B25040.
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_5YR_DP04&prodType=table>

59,558
Estimated number of occupied housing units across the country using solar energy in 2014 as their primary source of heat, which is less than 1 percent of all homes.
Source: 2010-2014 American Community Survey five-year estimates, Table B25040.
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_5YR_DP04&prodType=table

56.8 million
Estimated number of occupied housing units across the country primarily heated by utility gas in 2014, which is 48.8 percent of all homes.
Source: 2010-2014 American Community Survey five-year estimates, Table B25040.
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_14_5YR_DP04&prodType=table>

91%
Estimated percent of newly-built single-family homes across the country with air conditioning in 2014.
Source: 2014 Characteristics of New Housing, Survey of Construction
http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/highlights.html
Presence of Air-Conditioning in New Single-Family Houses Completed
http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/pdf/aircond.pdf

Commuting to Work

26 minutes
Estimated average time workers age 16 and older across the country spent getting to work in 2014, up from 25.8 minutes in 2013 and 25.7 minutes in 2012.
Source: 2014 American Community Survey
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/S0801

32.3 and 32.6 minutes
Estimated average time workers age 16 and older in Maryland and New York spent getting to work in 2014, the longest commute time in the nation.
Source: 2014 American Community Survey
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/GCT0801.US01PR

16.7
Estimated average time workers age 16 and older in South Dakota spent getting to work in 2014, the shortest one-way commute time in the nation.
Source: 2014 American Community Survey
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/GCT0801.US01PR

904,463
Estimated number of people who rode a bicycle to work in 2014. This comes out to about 0.6 percent of the American workforce.
Source: 2014 American Community Survey
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/B08006
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/S0801

4,011,094
Estimated number of people who walked to work in 2014. This comes out to about 2.7 percent of the American workforce.
Source: 2014 American Community Survey
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/S0801
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_1YR/B08006

Working in the Nuclear and Forestry Fields

54,863
Number of workers employed in forestry and logging establishments across the U.S. in 2013, up from 53,515 in 2012.
Source: 2013 County Business Patterns
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2013/00A1//naics~113

50,410
Number of workers employed in nuclear electric power generation establishments across the U.S. in 2013.
Source: 2013 County Business Patterns
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2013/00A1//naics~221113

51.0%
Increase in the number of nuclear electric power generation establishments across the U.S. in 2013, from 75 establishments in 2003 to 147 establishments in 2013.
Source: 2003, 2013 County Business Patterns
http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/cbpnaic/cbpdetl.pl

Using Energy

18,817 trillion Btu

The energy consumption in the U.S. manufacturing sector in 2010, down 17 percent from the 22,576 trillion Btu (British thermal units) consumed in 2002.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010 Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey
http://www.eia.gov/consumption/manufacturing/index.cfm

-32%
The drop in the consumption of coal in the U.S. manufacturing sector from 2002 to 2010, going from 1,956 trillion Btu in 2002 down to 1,328 trillion Btu consumed in 2010.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010 Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey
http://www.eia.gov/consumption/manufacturing/index.cfm

Building a House

2,453 square feet
The median size of a single-family home completed in 2014.
Source: 2014 Characteristics of New Housing, Survey of Construction
http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/highlights.html

620,000
The number of single-family homes completed in 2014. Of these, 64,000 had two or fewer bedrooms and 282,000 had four bedrooms or more.
Source: 2014 Characteristics of New Housing, Survey of Construction
http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/highlights.html

$345,800
The average sales price of a new single-family home sold in 2014.
Source: 2014 Characteristics of New Housing, Survey of Construction
http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/highlights.html

11,000
The number of multifamily buildings built across the U.S. in 2014. Of these, 7,000 used electricity as the primary heating fuel.
Source: 2014 Characteristics of New Housing, Survey of Construction
http://www.census.gov/construction/chars/highlights.html

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

1.1%
Increase in the number of recyclable material merchant wholesalers establishments across the U.S. in 2013, from 8,855 establishments in 2012 to 8,951 establishments in 2013.
Source: 2013 County Business Patterns
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2013/00A1//naics~423930

113,440
Number of employees working in recyclable material merchant wholesale establishments in 2013, down 1.9 percent from 115,611 employees in 2012.
Source: 2013 County Business Patterns
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2013/00A1//naics~423930

$95.8 billion
Sales for recyclable material merchant wholesale establishments in 2012, up 19.6 percent from $80.1 billion in 2007. 2012 sales for recyclable paper and paperboard products: $9.8 billion. 2012 sales for recyclable plastics products: $2.3 billion. 2012 sales for recyclable glass products: $583.5 million.
Source: 2012 Economic Census and 2007 Economic Census
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ECN/2012_US/42I3//naics~423930/prodsvc~12930|12943|12944

$8.8 billion
Product shipments value for recycled paperboard in 2014.
Source: 2014 Annual Survey of Manufactures
http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ASM/2014/31VS101/0100000US/prodsvc~3221307

Collecting Revenue

$1.9 billion
Estimated revenue for hazardous waste management collection services in 2014 for U.S. waste collection employer firms. This is up 6.7 percent from 2013.
Source: 2014 Service Annual Survey, Table 4
http://www2.census.gov/services/sas/data/table4.xls

$5.5 billion
Estimated revenue for hazardous waste treatment and disposal services in 2014 for U.S. waste treatment and disposal employer firms.
Source: 2014 Service Annual Survey, Table 4
http://www2.census.gov/services/sas/data/table4.xls

$14.3 billion
Estimated revenue for local, fixed-route passenger transportation, by road and transit rail in 2014 for U.S. Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation employer firms. This is up 7.5 percent from 2013.
Source: 2014 Service Annual Survey, Table 4
http://www2.census.gov/services/sas/data/table4.xls

Following is a list of observances typically covered by the Census Bureau's Profile America Facts for Features series:

African-American History Month (February)
Super Bowl (usually first Sunday in February)
Valentine's Day (Feb. 14)
Women's History Month (March)
Irish-American Heritage Month (March)/St. Patrick's Day (March 17)
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (May)
Older Americans Month (May)
Mother's Day (second Sunday in May)
Hurricane Season Begins (June 1)
Father's Day (third Sunday in June)
The Fourth of July (July 4)
Anniversary of Americans With Disabilities Act (July 26)
Back to School (August)
Labor Day (first Monday in September)
Grandparents Day (first Sunday after Labor Day)
Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15)
Unmarried and Single Americans Week (third full week of September)
Halloween (Oct. 31)
American Indian/Alaska Native Heritage Month (November)
Veterans Day (Nov. 11)
Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November)
The Holiday Season (December)

Editor's note: The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines.

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau