By Heather Douglas
Statistics Canada reports this country’s construction industry represents a major component of the economy as it provided 1.4 million direct jobs (latest figures 2015), working for 352,500 companies, and contributed about $117.0 billion to GDP.
On a national level, from 1990 to 2015, Canada’s construction industry used 37 per cent more energy and CO2 emissions increased by 42 per cent. At the same time, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 61 per cent. The Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) calculates that due to the sector’s commitment to environmental protection, GDP-based energy intensity fell by nearly 15 per cent while CO2 intensity (based on GDP) dropped by almost 12 per cent – in the same time period. The data was gathered from construction companies working for energy, electricity, natural gas, and petroleum producers and ignores consumers.
On a provincial/regional level, Ontario and Quebec consistently account for about 50 per cent of the energy used in large construction projects, as well as by homebuilders. Both provinces use proportionally more natural gas and light fuel oil. Atlantic Canada uses light and heavy fuel oil. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are the most energy and emission intense of all provinces and regions, while the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are the least intense.
Statistics Canada reports construction companies used 25.53 cubic metres (m3) of propane (GJ/physical unit) from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 2000 that number dropped to 25.31 and held through 2015. By contrast, they consumed 37.78 thousand m3 of natural gas from 1990 to 1995. That year it jumped to 38.06 thousand m3, dropped to 37.99 thousand m3 in 2000, then rose to 38.26 thousand m3 in 2005 and 2006. Each subsequent year it gradually inched up until it was 39.24 thousand m3 in 2015.
According to the Canadian Construction Association, it has proposed a of action to monitor energy intensity changes per physical unit of output, the physical units must be relatively comparable in space (same product in two different plants), and time (the product is roughly the same a decade later). Furthermore, it suggested three concepts to simplify and generalize the definition of products to be monitored:
- “Some products or services, though economically significant (such as running electrical wiring, installing plumbing, or exterior finishing), may consume little energy upon completion and, in the overall scheme of energy-related analysis, are insignificant.
- Process uniformity may be one approach to aggregating products. Tonnes of concrete poured may be a better output measure than number of buildings completed. The guiding characteristic will be the uniformity of energy use in the process, not the product generated.
The market share of the product or sub-products could be used to factor out structural differences in the output. For example, to estimate the energy intensity of the building construction, one could use the square metres of floor space produced modified by the market share of each building type.”
