Rethinking Energy Conservation:Context of the Report
| In May, 2010, the ECO released its first Annual Report on the progress of activities in Ontario to reduce or make more efficient use of electricity, natural gas, propane, oil and transportation fuels. Click here for more information on this report, including videos and communications materials. | |||||
|
|||||
Contents |
The ECO’s New Energy Reporting Mandate
The Green Energy and Green Economy Act, 2009 (GEGEA), proclaimed in May 2009, introduced legislative amendments to several existing acts. The act incorporated new requirements for energy conservation and supported the increased use of renewable sources of energy. It aims to further strengthen the conservation culture that Ontario is building and to position the province to capture the environmental and employment benefits created by energy conservation and renewable energy.
As part of these legislative changes, the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993 (EBR ) was amended, and the reporting mandate of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) was expanded. The ECO was given a new responsibility to report annually to the Speaker of the Assembly on:
- the progress of activities in Ontario to reduce or make more efficient use of electricity, natural gas, propane, oil and transportation fuels;
- the progress in meeting any government-established targets to reduce energy consumption and increase efficient use of these fuels; and
- barriers to conservation and energy efficiency.
To assist with this role, the ECO has the authority to request information from several sources: agencies that regulate energy or operate the electricity system or provide conservation services, and companies that deliver energy to homes and businesses.
Information may also be requested from relevant government ministries and other organizations.
The ECO’s Reporting Approach
The purpose of the Annual Energy Conservation Progress Report is to respond to the ECO’s three-fold statutory obligation outlined above. The ECO interprets this mandate broadly to mean providing an analysis of the annual state of energy conservation in Ontario – including regulatory, policy, program, technology and other activity – in order to ensure continuation of successful activities and to suggest reform where needed.
By mandate, this first report covers the period from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. The ECO relies on data that other organizations are required by regulation and policy direction to collect. Production of the report is, therefore, reliant on the timing in which this data is received. To address this issue, the Annual Energy Conservation Progress Report – 2009 will be issued as two separate documents.
This report is Volume One and covers the broader policy framework and operational issues affecting energy conservation in Ontario. It raises policy issues that need resolution, requests certain policy actions needed if the ECO is to fulfill its mandate, and identifies potential gaps, weaknesses and uncertainties in the policy framework.
This is the first report issued in response to our new mandate. In addition, much of the energy policy framework is in transition or has not yet been articulated by the government, its agencies and regulatory authorities. Given these considerations, the ECO has approached this report as a foundation document on which to build future reports. Volume Two, a separate report to be issued later in 2010, will describe initiatives underway, assess the energy savings that have been achieved and measure progress made in achieving targets.
Ontario’s Consumption of Energy
Current Energy Consumption
In assessing conservation efforts, it is helpful to understand how energy is currently used by Ontarians. Energy consumption can be examined in several ways: by fuel type (such as oil or electricity); by sector (such as commercial or residential); and by end use (such as heating or lighting). All three types of analysis provide insight as to where both the report’s attention and conservation action should be focused. Figure 1 shows how energy demand is met in Ontario and highlights the relative contributions that the energy sources specified in the ECO’s reporting mandate make to Ontario’s total energy consumption. In 2007, final energy demand was 2,640 petajoules (PJ). (Final energy demand is end use demand and represents the sum of energy usage by all sectors in Ontario, but does not include feedstocks, that is, any energy used for energy production – more information on energy use is available in Appendix 1).
Natural gas and transportation fuels account for more than 70 per cent of the total energy demand in the province. In contrast, electricity plays a smaller role in Ontario’s energy demand mix, representing 18 per cent of final energy demand. Recently in Ontario, the government’s policy focus has been squarely on electricity conservation. However, based on consumption patterns, there is an obvious need to look at the conservation of multiple energy sources. Both natural gas and transportation fuels are carbon-based – in contrast to electricity, which is generated from both fossil and non-fossil fuels – and represent nearly three-quarters of Ontario’s end-use consumption.
Forecast Growth in Consumption
According to the National Energy Board (NEB), secondary energy consumption in the province is expected to grow during the period 2008-14 by 325 PJ, representing about an 11 per cent increase. (Secondary energy consumption includes final energy demand for all end-users and the feedstock energy demand used by energy producers. Feedstock energy is chiefly natural gas or other hydrocarbon fuels used by producers to provide fuel.) Some 71 per cent of this projected growth is expected to come from the increased use of refined petroleum products, mainly gasoline and diesel that are primarily used in the transportation sector, underscoring the importance of conservation in this sector.
Figure 2 illustrates how the NEB projects Ontario’s total secondary energy consumption to grow, as well as each fuel’s share of total forecast growth. Unlike the data presented in Figure 1, showing final energy demand, Figure 2 includes both final energy demand (end use demand) and feedstocks.
A note of caution: any forecast of future energy consumption should be viewed as an estimate only.
There is a history of long-term energy forecasts overestimating future increases in energy consumption. In the 1990s, for example, forecast growth in electricity demand failed to materialize for several reasons. Among these were economic slowdown, structural changes in the economy that began to move Ontario away from energy intensive industries, and concerted conservation efforts during that decade. More recently, electricity consumption in Ontario fell by 2.3 per cent in 2008 and a further 6. per cent in 2009, reaching its lowest level since 1997, as a result of the economic recession, conservation efforts and mild weather. Energy prices, weather and economic activity are important factors that affect energy consumption.
Despite forecasting uncertainties, the analysis of current and projected energy consumption patterns can help us in directing conservation efforts more effectively. The future of energy consumption in Ontario is a story that we will write ourselves.
| Previous section: Executive Summary |
| Next section: Introduction |
Citing This Article:
Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. 2010. Annual Energy Conservation Progress Report, 2009 (Volume One): Rethinking Energy Conservation in Ontario. Toronto, ON : Environmental Commissioner of Ontario. pp. 6-9
