Canadians spend almost $129 billion per year on energy to heat and cool their homes and offices and to operate their appliances, cars and industrial processes. Several factors contribute to Canadian energy demand: a vast geography, a northern climate with extreme seasonal variations in temperature and an economy founded on an abundance of natural resources.
Types of Energy Use
There are two general types of energy use: primary and secondary. Primary use comprises Canada's total consumption, including energy required to transform one form to another – such as coal to electricity – and to deliver energy to consumers. Secondary use comprises energy consumed for residential, commercial/institutional, industrial, transportation and agricultural purposes.
Key highlights in energy use include the following:
The industrial sector consumes the most energy, accounting for 38.4 percent of total secondary energy use in 2003. Transportation is second (27.9 percent), followed by residential (17.2 percent), commercial/institutional (14.0 percent) and agriculture (2.5 percent).
Promoting Energy Efficiency
For the past decade, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has promoted energy efficiency and the use of alternative energy as a means to reduce GHG emissions and save money. NRCan exercises a broad range of policy instruments, including leadership, information, voluntary actions, financial incentives, research and development, and regulation.
The Energy Efficiency Act, which came into force in 1992, provides for the making and enforcement of regulations concerning minimum energy performance levels for energy-using products, as well as the labelling of energy-using products and the collection of data on energy use. The Energy Efficiency Regulations are described in Chapter 2.
Energy Intensity / Energy Efficiency
As explained in Chapter 1, although aggregate energy intensity is sometimes used as a proxy for energy efficiency, there is a difference between the two terms. Understanding this difference is important when comparing Canada with other countries. Energy intensity is a broader measure, capturing not only energy efficiency, but also the impacts of weather variations and changes in the structure of the economy (among other aspects). While Canada has a higher aggregate intensity than most International Energy Agency (IEA) countries, it has made significant overall improvements in energy efficiency. According to a recent IEA report¹ that examined 13 countries, Canada has the fourth fastest rate of energy efficiency improvement.
Evidence of Change
As explained in this report, recent growth in energy use is primarily due to increased activity in various sectors; however, this growth would have been far greater without improvements in energy efficiency. As reported in Chapter 1, energy efficiency improvements made between 1990 and 2003 are estimated to have reduced GHG emissions by almost 52.3 megatonnes and decreased energy expenditures by an average of $13.4 billion in 2003 alone.
Over this period, the residential sector recorded a 19.4 percent increase in energy efficiency. The figures for transportation (15.7 percent), industry (12.6 percent) and the commercial/institutional (1.1 percent) sectors demonstrate that improvements in energy efficiency are being made throughout the economy.
Through improvements in energy efficiency, Canadians can reduce the size of their energy bills and achieve important environmental goals. In the short term, changes to less GHG-intensive fuels (e.g. from coal to natural gas) can help reduce GHG emissions. However, over the long term, reducing GHG emissions further will require more widespread use of alternative energy.
In recent years, the production of energy derived from alternative sources has increased significantly. Between 1990 and 2001, the last year for which data are available, the amount of electricity generated from the sun, wind and biomass increased by 204 percent.
Engaging Canadians
To maximize the effectiveness of its initiatives, NRCan engages a growing number of partners from the private and public sectors. Dozens of cooperative agreements are in place with a broad range of businesses, community groups and other levels of government.
These initiatives engage Canadian society, along with every sector of the economy, in new and more efficient approaches to secondary energy use and in the development and deployment of renewable energy sources.
This report provides an overview of the work being done in each sector, highlights NRCan's efficiency and alternative energy (EAE) programs and lists their key achievements for 2004–2005. All programs are described in the corresponding sector chapter. Program entries for market transformation programs also include quantitative performance indicators in graph or table format (see below). A list of NRCan's EAE initiatives and expenditures appears in Appendix 1.
Performance Indicators Highlighted in the Report
¹ International Energy Agency, Oil Crises and Climate Challenges – 30 Years of Energy Use in IEA Countries, Paris, 2004.