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Energy Use Data Handbook,
1990 to 2008
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View Handbook Tables – Residential Sector
Chapter 2 – Residential Sector
The Data Situation
Aggregate data on residential energy use are reported in Statistics Canada’s Report on Energy Supply-Demand in Canada (RESD) (Cat. No. 57-003-X). To provide more detail on how this energy is used, the Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) has developed the Residential End-Use Model (REUM). This stock accounting model assesses trends in energy use in the Canadian residential sector by allocating the energy use reported in the RESD to end-uses using annual stock characteristics and sales data, coupled with usage profiles and unit energy consumption for equipment stock. It is disaggregated at the provincial level and includes four building types, five end-uses, eight vintage categories (house age categories) and six fuel types. Some end-uses are further disaggregated by equipment type.
Household characteristics are derived from the Household Facilities and Equipment Survey for the years prior to 1997 and from Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending from 1997 and onward. The two surveys collect similar information but use different methodologies, therefore requiring significant data processing to merge the information. Because Statistics Canada stopped releasing data about vacant housing stock in 2001, the calculation of housing stock for 2001 and onward uses the number of households, new construction completions and demolished dwellings. Floor space information is acquired by combining housing stock estimates with data from two other Statistics Canada surveys: the Building Permits Survey and the OEE-sponsored Survey of Household Energy Use.
Energy consumption information was drawn from the data collected by various industry associations and external studies (some of which are commissioned by the OEE). Specifically, the Canadian Appliance Manufacturers Association, the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada, the Energy Technology Database developed by Marbek Resource Consultants Ltd. and the internal expertise of OEE staff were utilized in this regard.
The REUM also takes into account the influence of weather on residential energy demand. It uses the number of heating degree-days in Monthly Values of Degree-Days below
18.0°C and the number of cooling degree-days in Monthly Values of Degree-Days above 18.0°C, two reports from Environment Canada.
The residential prices of heating oil and natural gas are weighted averages of regional prices from Statistics Canada’s Energy Statistics Handbook (Cat. No. 57-601-X). The residential price of electricity is a weighted average of the data found in Hydro-Québec’s Comparison of Electricity Prices in Major North American Cities.
