In Canada, 71.9% of energy is used for secondary purposes, that is, to supply the industrial (39.7%), transportation (29.4%), residential (17.1%), commercial/institutional (10.8%) and agricultural (3.1%) sectors. Overall energy consumption increased by 31% between 1990 and 2014. Without the energy efficiency measures deployed in the various sectors, this same consumption would have increased by 55% (Natural Resources Canada, 2018).
With respect to power generation in Canada that was reaching 2,3 EJ in 2015, the sources of that power are mainly renewable energy (64.8%) and fossil fuel (35.2%) (Natural Resources Canada, 2018). The problem is that the growth in energy demand systematically increases the consumption of fossil fuels. For example, in Québec, 40 million tons of oil equivalent were used in 2013. However, 50% of this consumption is oil and natural gas for heating and cooling needs. The proportions related to these needs are 65.7% for the residential sector and 58.4% for the commercial and institutional sector (Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles [MERN], 2013).