Comparisons between Ontario and the rest of Canada

Figure 3 compares Ontario and the rest of Canada in energy use per person for various functions in 2000.9 Overall, energy use was higher in the rest of Canada (313 vs. 227 gigajoules per person). This was the result of higher consumption for agriculture, industry, residential heating and cooling, and freight transportation.

Figure 3. Per capita end use of energy by sector in Ontario and in the rest of Canada, 2000

Figure 3 does not include the energy used to produce usable energy, either the energy used to produce electricity, as discussed above for Ontario, or the large amounts of energy used to produce oil from the tar sands noted at the beginning of this paper.10 The higher energy use for industry in the rest of Canada mostly reflects the energy-intensity nature of the pulp and paper industry, which in 2000 used 15.4 gigajoules per capita in Ontario and 41.1 gigajoules per capita in the rest of Canada. The other large difference--for residential heating and cooling--likely occurred because people in Ontario generally live in a milder climate than other Canadians.

Notes
9. The data in Figure 3 are from the source detailed in Footnote 3.
10. Overall in Canada in 2000, the energy used to produce usable energy amounted to about 15% more than actual end-use energy. (See Statistics Canada's CANSIM II, Series V618545 for total primary and end-use energy, and Footnote 3 for total end-use energy.) The addition energy was used chiefly to produce electricity and to produce oil from the tar sands noted in this article's opening paragraph. According to the source detailed in Footnote 2, extraction of oil from tar sands consumes about 20% of Canada's natural gas supply. "Within a few years, Canada may have to choose between selling part of their natural gas vs. synthetic oil to the United States."