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Heating & cooling of buildings is a major source of energy consumption & carbon emission. In Canada's residential sector, NRCan data show that 15 million households (all dwelling units) consumed 406 billion kWh of secondary energy in 2022, of which 244 billion kWh (60%) was for space heating, 74 billion (18%) for water heating, 9 billion (2%) for space cooling, and 78 billion (19%) for lights & appliances. This is an average of 21,307 kWh (81%) for thermal applications and 5,094 kWh for plug load in every dwelling across the country. Collectively, all households emitted 48 billion kg of carbon from thermal applications and 7 billion kg from plug load ... an average of 3,148 kg (87%) from thermal and 479 kg from plug in each household. If you want to see how your house compares, download this pdf. Add Canada's commercial / institutional sector, and total consumption of secondary energy for thermal applications was 547 billion kWh and emission of 84 billion kg of carbon. Much of the current energy & environmental focus is on increasing output from solar, wind and low-emission sources of electricity, but these federal data underscore the critical importance of addressing the high thermal load in buildings. NetZeroPLUS Canada argues for a 3-step process to ensure optimal assessment: (our thanks to the 3R movement (reduce, recycle, reuse) for the inspiration) Conserve: If not self-evident, this means stop wasting energy. Turn off lights, close doors, insulate, drop the thermostat, ask yourself if you really NEED to consume that energy. The least expensive / least damaging energy is the energy not consumed. Convert: Once your load is reduced, ensure that consumption comes from the best option for the environment and for your pocketbook. This means swapping incandescent lightbulbs to LED, tapping into district energy networks if available, changing your car to EV (and charging at night), switching the furnace from oil or gas to electric heat pump, etc. Clean: Once your demand is reduced to the maximum possible from the first 2 Cs, select which clean - renewable - sustainable - alternative - low carbon - green - ecological (these terms do not all mean the same, so be careful) source of energy you will consume. Your chosen technology must be able to quantify & verify its output, so an accurate assessment can be made of its effectiveness and its impact. A ground source heat pump (GSHP) will supply that 21,307 kWh of thermal demand by producing renewable energy from the earth on a fully dispatchable (no batteries required) basis. If installed at the minimum allowed efficiency of COP 3.6, it will need 5,918 kWh of power from the grid to operate its compressor & electrical components, but the house will produce 21,307 vs consume 11,012 (5,918 + 5,094 plug) for a verifiable ratio of 2:1. It will also eliminate the 3,148 kg of emissions from thermal applications (more if the local power utility offers low-carbon electricity). The cost for a GSHP system is much lower if installed while the building is under construction or major renovation, when trenching equipment & workers are on site, and before the property is landscaped. If installed in subsidized housing, the lower operating costs will require less public funding support for years to come. There are many options available to building owners (home & commercial, new & retrofit) which claim to tread lightly on our planet and on your pocketbook. Supply options should only be considered if they can aggregate & verify their production, and provide full transparency to that choice. |