Canada’s per capita energy usage is five times higher than the global average. It is 29 percent higher than the United States of America, and triple that of the European Union.
While these numbers highlight large discrepancies, they do also represent an opportunity for Canada moving forward: by the year 2050, energy efficiency can provide forty percent of Canada’s energy needs. Energy efficiency is about using less energy to achieve the same, or better, energy services—meaning less costs for consumers and a more productive economy overall.
What will it take to get there? Beyond the Headlines podcast discusses with Dr. James Gaede of Efficiency Canada, who co-authored the organization’s Provincial Energy Efficiency Scorecard published late last year. Aiming to benchmark progress and encourage competition within industry and between provinces, the scorecard details progress on energy efficiency within Canada.
Specific policy recommendations within the report include repayment mechanisms to make it easier for program participants to repay costs associated with energy efficiency permits, credit enhancements, which focus on mobilizing private capital into energy efficient investments, and setting up demonstration projects, which test the ability of a technology or process in a new context and demonstrate that it is a workable and viable solution prior to implementation.
