Every little bit makes a difference

Consumer demand for electricity is growing. It’s estimated that over the next 20 years, an additional 214 gigawatts of electricity will be required to keep up with demand. 

To put that in context, that’s 357 large coal plants worth of capacity.

So while governments and utility companies are doing their part to provide clean-burning alternative energy sources, consumers are being asked to start changing their consumption habits.

Beyond the basics, switching to CFL light bulbs, buying Energy Star appliances and simply switching off the switch, consumers now have other ways they can make a difference.

Take Smart Meters, as an example. Companies, like Xcel Energy, are finding ways to make smart meters as fun and as easy to use as TiVo. How it works is consumers manage home electricity via a web page that displays energy consumption and carbon footprint data and suggests ways to save energy (and cash).

By tinkering with the SmartGridCity site, savvy users can manage the power flowing to each appliance and rank them according to the order they should be shut down when prices rise. Turning energy consumption into a video game that saves you money.

Another option is by inserting special plugs into electrical outlets, almost anything—from hall lights and pool pumps to garage door openers—turning those appliances into a smart appliance.

The important thing to keep in mind is that no matter what you do, every little bit helps.

Illustration: James Day

Canadians still warming up to energy efficiency

While Canadians are clearly “greener” than they used to be in terms of energy consumption, we evidently still have plenty of room for improvement. That’s the indication from the results of Statistics Canada’s latest Households and the Environment survey. A biennial collaboration with the Environment and Health departments, the survey was initiated in 1991 and the latest is based on data collected from more than 21,000 households between late last year and early this year. 

“Rising energy costs and environmental concerns about the need to reduce energy consumption provide incentives for households to adopt energy conservation measures,” the agency says in an introduction to the survey, which is downloadable. Request Catalog No. 11-526-X.

“Lowering the temperature by just a few degrees at certain times of the day is one way Canadians can reduce their energy consumption,” it says, noting that the heating season can last up to 10 months in some regions.

Of the nearly 12 million households with at least one thermostat, 42% have installed the programmable kind. However, 16% apparently couldn’t be bothered or were unable to actually program them.

Another potential energy-saver is a federal proposal, announced in April 2007, to introduce national lighting efficiency standards by 2012 with a view to phasing out less-efficient lighting. Some 84% of respondents to the latest survey indicated that they had installed at least one type of energy-saving light in their homes, the most common option evidently being compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) despite concerns about appropriate disposal due to mercury in their ballasts.

With forced-air furnaces being the heat source of choice in 53% of Canadian homes, filter maintenance remains a critical element of efficiency. Two-thirds of the 2007 respondents said they changed filters at least every six months while others changed them every three months or more frequently. Fully 22%, however, admitted they changed filters only once in the preceding year and 5% had not done so.

Worryingly, 6% indicated they had no idea when their furnace filter was last changed.

Energy supply and demand

Every year, Statistics Canada releases its annual survey of Canada’s overall energy production and consumption. Chalk full of percent increases and petajoules of energy consumed, the survey highlights important energy trends. In 2007, one overarching trend emerged.

Canada – and one province in particular – used more energy than ever before!

As a result of increased consumption in the industrial, transportation, residential and commercial sectors, Canada’s thirst for energy rose 5.5 per cent in 2007. Use of the three main fossil fuels (natural gas, oil and coal) rose even more – 7 per cent.

Canada’s biggest single energy consumer is the transportation sector, which accounts for around 31 per cent of the total national demand. Its consumption rose 5.1 per cent. Coming in at a distant second is the industrial sector, which consumed a further 6.6 per cent.

Demand for all refined petroleum products, including fuel oil and motor gasoline also rose – 4.1 per cent. Sales of motor gasoline also increased, up to 42 billion litres, or up 3.8 per cent.

One province made a gargantuan leap in consumption. Alberta’s increased consumption of energy increased 13.5 per cent. The increase was attributed to higher demand by the mining and oil and gas industries. Alberta accounted for a fifth of total national consumption.

Increases in energy consumption were slower than the national average of 5.5 per cent in six provinces: Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Consumption increased 1.6 per cent in Ontario. It accounted for over 32 per cent of the country’s entire energy demand.

As temperatures drop coast to coast, one can’t help but wonder how 2008 stats will stack up.

How low can you go?

Energy efficiency means fewer emissions and lower costs. And that’s the clear benefit to industry Natural Resources Canada is aiming for with its release of the new Energy Savings Toolbox. 

It’s not always an easy task to spot ways to save energy in a complex industrial environment. The Toolbox includes a step-by-step Energy Audit checklist to help users assess energy consumption, costs, energy use patterns and inventories and then identify ways to increase energy efficiency. The toolbox also includes detailed information on energy fundamentals, energy consuming systems and condition surveys.

This free, comprehensive PDF resource is available now at Natural Resource Canada.

Energy Efficiency: A New Construct

Despite the ready availability of energy-efficiency technologies which would significantly reduce businesses’ operating costs, a ground-breaking federal study indicates that they’re under-utilized – if used at all. The National Round Table on the Environment & and the Economy and Sustainable Development Technology Canada  have found that commercial buildings account for no less than 14% of end-use energy consumption. As a result, they are responsible for 13% of Canada’s carbon emissions.

“Technologies are not being taken up, with the result that energy use and carbon emissions continue to grow,” they say in a summary of their 114-page study, Geared for Change. “Climate policy makers need to consider not just long-term national greenhouse gas reduction targets, but specific policies and actions on a sector-by-sector basis to get the deep emission reductions already set by the Government of Canada.”

Success, they say, requires a shift away from national-level policies to a more parochial approach because each sector of the economy has a distinct emissions footprint which necessitates sector-specific solutions.

Hence the collaborative study of commercial buildings. It flows from a 2006 NRTEE report on long-term energy use in Canada in which the think-tank stated that efficiency improvements alone could reduce the commercial sector’s annual carbon emissions by 58% from a 2050 “business as usual” scenario. The following year, an STDC report indicated that commercial buildings’ emissions could be reduced easily and significantly by 2030.

However, the latest research has found a “fragmented and diverse” sector with apparently entrenched resistance to improved efficiency. It also indicates that addressing that resistance will become a greater challenge as Canada moves to a more service-oriented and knowledge-based economy that likely will increase employee densities in the commercial sector.

Its energy consumption grew by 25% between 1990 and 2005, yielding a 27% jump in carbon emissions, and while its energy intensity increased from 1.69 gigajoules per square meter to 1.84 GJ/m2 between 1990 and 2003, it fell to 1.62 GJ/m2 by 2005.

The fundamental complexity of the commercial sector with myriad building designs, ownership and operation, coupled with the involvement of all levels of government, underscores the need for more focuses emissions policies.

“This multi-jurisdictional governing framework makes it difficult in turn for developers and owners to stay abreast of applicable policies and available resources regarding energy efficiency,” the NRTEE and STDC say. “Other barriers to technology adoption . . . . range from issues related to risk management, information gaps, complexities in the commercial building value chain, financial costs related to being the first mover in the market, energy pricing that does not account for environmental externalities, and institutional and regulatory barriers caused by existing policy frameworks.”

“No one measure on its own is sufficient to wring the necessary emission reductions from the sector and achieve our targets,” they say. “The most effective is a . . . carbon price coupled with increasingly stringent regulations – but with the application of focused technology subsidies or incentives.”

I resolve to…

The Daily Green is highlighting 15 New Year’s resolutions that can help you conserve energy, protect the environment and create less waste. Here’s a selected look at actions you can take to put a green glow on 2009.

If you overindulged during the holiday break, get back on track by promising to recycle and choose recycled goods, like the Nahui Ollin Overturned-Tootsie Pop Candy Wrapper Tote or the recycled Wine Bottle Coat Rack from the Green Glass Company.

On the home front, resolve to have a greener kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Save energy in your kitchen by running your dishwasher only when it’s full and use the air-dry setting instead of heat-dry. Tune up your fridge to ensure peak efficiency by cleaning the condenser coil and when you grocery shop, use reusable bags.

Put a fresh green spin on laundry Mondays by resolving to line-dry your clothes or if you need to use the dryer, make sure the lint filter is clean (a new hobby!), the load is full, the timer is working and wet clothes are not added in the middle of a cycle. Save additional energy by washing clothes in cold water, or if really soiled wash them in warm instead of hot water.

In the bathroom resolve to fix that leak in your toilet and buy recycled paper products. A switch to facial tissue and toilet paper made with recycled content (recycled fiber and post-consumer recycled content) could have a big impact on the environment. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that if every household replaced one box of virgin fiber facial tissue with 100% recycled tissue and one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper with 100% recycled TP, we could save 586,900 trees. 

That’s got to be getting close to saving a forest.

Are you celebrating the New Year with any energy savings resolutions?

Hypocrisy? No, just reality

New information about Canadians’ environmental activism suggest that many of us are doing what we can to make the world a greener place. Statistics Canada reports that virtually everyone with access to recycling programs use them, 59% of us have converted to compact fluorescent lights, 56% to low-flow showerheads and 54% of us have lowered our thermostats.

However, another StatsCan report states that our homes and personal vehicles are still responsible for nearly half of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling and the other “green” behaviours – which, incidentally, increase commensurately with household incomes – involve relatively simple choices. Some, such as using less water, lowering thermostats and using fluorescent fixtures, are essentially no-cost options which quickly yield personal savings. There’s also a couple of downsides to fluorescent light fixtures: they don’t contribute much heat to a house and disposal presents a problem because of the mercury they contain.

Moreover, in Canada’s generally long winters, turning down the heat significantly usually isn’t an option and, unless we live in a major metropolitan centre, neither is mass transit. Sure, there are some gains to be made by improving household insulation or moving away large vehicles, but the capital costs can be considerable. 

So what a cynic might see as hypocrisy is seen by others as simply the reality of life in a northern nation.

Does the thought of winter give you a chill? Cool your heating costs with these hot energy tips

Winter is coming. 

In Canada, those words have an ominous ring, even scarier than “We need to talk.” Not just because of the impending backbreaking snow-shovelling duties. Not because of the day you know you will spend digging out your windshield scraper. Not even because of malls jam-packed with holidays shoppers scrambling to find the best deal that says “You’re someone special.”

In Canada, that winter is on its way means consumers will need to spend more heating their homes. What’s worse – the cost of heating your home is projected to rise. This winter, Canadian can expect to pay about 10 per cent more on heating. But the good news is there are many simple, yet effective ways to cut heating costs this winter.

Small measures add up to big savings

It’s easy to dismiss small measures as just that – small.  What difference can adjusting, say, the power settings on your computer make?  About $40 per year.  Not bad when you consider that a lot of small adjustments add up and in a hurry.  

Time to pull out your sweater – Adjusting your thermostat to a lower daytime temperature by one degree can save up to three per cent on your heating bills, depending on your home design, heating system and insulation.  It’s a fact that many homes are unnecessarily warmed to summer temperatures all year round. Lowering the temperature even more at night will further cut your savings. 

Ceiling fans – Reversing the direction on your ceiling fan will reverse the air circulation, drawing the air upwards instead of downwards. Just as it promotes more efficient cooling in the summer, reversing your ceiling fan promotes heating efficiency in the winter.

Give your laundry the cold shoulder – Washing your clothes in cold water, instead of hot or even lukewarm, will cut your energy consumption dramatically. 90 per cent of the energy used for laundry is in heating the water. Plus, your clothes will survive more spin cycles.

Put the damper on heat loss – Simply closing the flue damper when your fireplace is not in use will save you an extra $190 per year. That’s because when not in use, the chimney still draws in warm air, from your home. Conservatively, you could be spending an extra $50 per month during the winter months to heat the outside air.

Dodge the drafts – Weatherizing and insulating your home will not only cut costs, but increase comfort. Check for cold air drafts and seal up windows and doors with easy-to-install weatherstripping. Consider adding extra insulation to attics, basements and crawlspaces.

Give your hot water tank a cozy cover – Covering your hot water tank with an insulation wrap is an inexpensive and simple way to improve the efficiency of your system. Costing about $20 for the wrap, the energy savings will pay-off in a few months.

Cut back on hot water consumption – Installing a low-flow showerhead, turning down the temperature setting on your hot water tank or just taking a shorter shower will cut down on your energy bills. On average, consumers spend 15 per cent of their energy costs on heating water. If you are considering upgrading your hot water tank, consider a solar hot water heater. 

Let the sun shine – Opening drapes and window coverings to let the sun in will offset heating costs with free passive solar heat. Be sure to take advantage of prime southern and western exposures.

Flip the switch on incandescent light bulbs – Replacing your outdated incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs will multiply the energy savings. A shocking 95 per cent of the energy used by incandescent bulbs goes to heating the bulb. Compact fluorescent bulbs use two-thirds less energy and last up to 10 times longer.

If that isn’t enough to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling this winter, check out these energy rebate and incentive programs.

Rewards for Recycling – The Ontario provincial power authority in cooperation with Canadian Tire has launched a recycling incentive program. Consumers will receive Canadian Tire gift cards in exchange for returning used air conditioners, dehumidifiers and halogen lamps. The program will result in a total gross energy savings of approximately 10.38 million KWh, equivalent to the total consumption of over 12,200 households.

Power Smart Rebates – The Canadian government will provide up to $500 for switching to an energy efficient furnace. In many provinces, the provincial government will match or supplement the rebate. For example, Manitoba Hydro offers Power Smart rebate which doubles the federal rebate.

Project Porchlight – Started in Ottawa in 2004, the project is dedicated to making efficient compact fluorescent bulbs available to consumers through a trade-in program. Consumers can trade their old incandescent bulbs for the newer, more efficient compact fluorescents.

Energy Audit – Often sponsored by gas and electricity utilities or local governments, energy audit programs offer consumers free or subsidized energy audits. A qualified energy auditor goes over your home with a fine-tooth comb, looking for energy leaks and suggests ways to reduce your energy consumption with home improvements. Even when paid for out of pocket, the savings will pay for the audit within a few years.

Rebates – Designed to help lower-income Canadians with their energy costs, rebate programs vary widely from province to province. Ranging from rebates to offset higher heating costs to incentives for purchasing energy efficient homes, find out about the programs in your area.

So remember…winter is coming. But by making a few small changes, we can add up the energy savings and beat the cold weather blues.

An Applet a day keeps consumption away

Deep down, every Internet user hungers for a few time-wasting buttons to fill their days. What other explanation is there for those ubiquitous banner ads with revolving targets and offers of free laptops?

At Flow, we share your obsessive Internet compulsion along with an added desire to connect consumers with the energy they use. It’s no wonder, then, that this pair of Java applets from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s The Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid (TCIP) group provide such ready distractions from whatever it was we were otherwise supposed to be doing.

Flip switches! Watch power fluctuate! It’s win-win! Unless you’re a Flow writer with other projects to work on, anyway. (or unless your system administrator has a problem with unauthorized Java applets – ahem. Ed.)

Hey Ontario…this week is important!

Every year, Ontario uses about 152,000,000 megawatt hours (464KB PDF) of electricity, enough to watch your favourite 42” plasma television at 358 kilowatt hours for the next 291,563 years.

That’s a lot of Battlestar Galactica.

Ontario leads the country in its use of energy, consuming more petroleum and coal than any other Canadian province.

It’s a dubious honour, but beginning May 25, the province will be trying to curb its energy use during its first annual Energy Conservation Week, a week of province-wide events complete with simple energy-saving tips designed to make Ontarians think about the way they use energy.

Co-created by Ontario’s Power Authority (OPA), the province’s Ministry of Energy, the Electricity Distributors Association (EDA) and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), the week is designed to show businesses and individuals how they can contribute to Ontario’s conservation goals.

Of course, Ontario’s utilities and their acronym-endowed umbrella organizations don’t expect Ontarians to commit to energy savings without some kind of tangible reward, so the week also includes those two words that every frugal energy user loves to hear: free stuff!

Backyard makeovers! Free shower heads and low-flow kitchen swivel aerator! A promotional video featuring Peter Love, Ontario’s Chief Energy Conservation Officer!

Well, all right, a video with a middle-aged executive touring Ontario with stock footage of washers and dryers may not exactly be riveting stuff. But if Ontarians really do have 291 millennia worth of power for their television-watching needs, it’s an event with plenty of time to improve.

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