Consuming less energy is answer to high prices

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This article was published 06/09/2022 (1138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s simply no way to get around it: Canadians are energy-consuming hogs.

This past April, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a non-governmental environmental advocacy organization, issued its annual international energy efficiency scorecard. Analyzing the 25 “most energy-consuming” countries, the ACEEE scorecard highlights those countries that are making a real effort to reduce energy consumption to help slow climate change, and exposes those that only talk a good game.

This year, Canada ranked 13th of 25 countries with an overall energy efficiency score of 49.5 out of a possible 100 points. That is well below first-place France (74.5) and only slightly above the global average of 48.5. That is a remarkably poor score given our relative wealth but it looks even more unflattering when you consider other metrics.

Canada actually rates seventh on policy, with robust targets and a myriad of government programs promoting energy efficiency. However, we rank 23rd when it comes to performance. In other words, Canadians are energy hogs.

Efficiency Canada, our principal energy efficient advocacy organization, reported Canada has the second-highest per capita energy consumption in the world. Our homes and commercial buildings consume way too much energy, and we spend way too much time travelling in personal vehicles.

Canada’s poor ranking can serve as both a curse and a blessing. Canadians already have the means and the mechanisms to do better. But only if we’re prepared to bear down and change the way we live. There is, however, abundant evidence we’re simply not willing to do that.

A good example could be seen last week, when Premier Heather Stefanson used a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to demand Ottawa reduce federal carbon taxes to help inflation-ravaged Manitobans. It was a demand that fell on deaf ears.

The prime minister said Stefanson and other premiers were being dishonest about the true impact of the carbon tax. Although it does make fossil fuels more expensive, in provinces like Manitoba where only a federal carbon tax is levied, citizens get back federal rebates worth more than what they actually pay in carbon taxes.

Although it’s questionable environmental policy, Stefanson’s attack on Trudeau makes perfect political sense for a number of reasons.

Showing disdain for the federal carbon tax is a popular posture among core Tory supporters, most of whom have yet to meet a tax they really like. And, howling about federal taxes directs the attention of inflation-weary Manitobans towards Ottawa and away from Manitoba where — as in most provinces — we have little to convince people to consume less energy.

And if our current dilemma has proven anything, it is that we don’t necessarily need cheaper energy prices; what we really need is to consume less energy.

Global consumers have been incredibly vulnerable to the whims of oil-producing nations, cartels and oil companies and their propensity to manipulate supply to drive up prices. Add a few unanticipated events such as the war in Ukraine — which has made it politically tenuous for Russia to export its enormous supply of oil and natural gas — and we are once again hostages to a perfect storm of cynical free-market forces and geopolitical subterfuge.

Given all of the pressures we’re seeing on the price of fossil fuels, we need to do more than just reduce the cost of consuming fossil fuels, or compensate consumers for higher prices. We need to consume less energy. That is the approach being taken in Europe.

Europe is on the front line of an energy crisis triggered largely by the war in Ukraine. Russia has slowed and periodically stopped the flow of natural gas to protest the pressure its European neighbours are applying over the invasion of Ukraine.

The world has been trying to limit Russia’s ability to profit from the inflationary pressures on fossil fuels. This past week, G7 nations (including Canada) agreed to put a cap on Russian oil. Russia responded by shutting down the pipeline to its European customers, citing technical issues. Russia has been interrupting natural gas supplies since June.

In response, European nations have delivered a combination of consumer subsidies and aggressive targets to reduce energy consumption. In France, the perennial overall leader in the ACEEE scorecard, President Emmanuel Macron has called for a new era of “energy sobriety” to reduce his country’s reliance on Russian oil and gas.

In addition to direct subsidies to its citizens, the French government has targeted a countrywide 10 per cent reduction in energy consumption over the next two years. Measures include increased use of car-pooling, lowering thermostats, and shutting off office lights and illuminated advertising signs overnight. Failure to meet those targets could result in planned rolling blackouts.

Viewed through a Canadian lens, the French strategy may seem unrealistic. Every time you see a Manitoban sitting inside their vehicle in a grocery store parking lot, windows up and engine idling, you know energy sobriety will be a tough sell on this side of the Atlantic.

However, subsidies and tax cuts aren’t enough. We need to make sure measures to cushion people from energy prices is accompanied by crisis-level programs to reduce energy consumption.

If we energy-consuming hogs really want to survive high energy prices, we need to do something we’ve never done before. We need to go on a diet.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com