Environment

Renewable sources of energy—including wind, tidal, solar, biomass, hydroelectric, and geothermal—produce low amounts of GHG emissions. Nuclear energy is also a low-emitting source of electricity that is gaining acceptance in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries as a sustainable energy source.¹

Increasing renewable energy’s share of total energy consumption should be a policy goal to mitigate climate change in Canada and its peer countries.

Canada ranks among the top five countries on this indicator and earns a “B” grade, behind the “A” performers: Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and France.

Canada can look to its peers to further increase the share of low-emitting electricity production in total electricity production. Almost all of Norway’s electricity was generated from renewable hydroelectric sources in 2006. In Switzerland and Sweden, over 90 per cent of electricity supply was produced using renewable and low-emitting sources.

Canada has an abundant supply of renewable energy resources, including hydro, wind, solar, forest and agricultural biomass, tidal, and geothermal. In 2006, almost 75 per cent of Canada’s electricity was produced from low-emitting sources (renewable plus nuclear), with nuclear energy contributing 16 per cent. (In Ontario, nuclear power accounts for more than 50 per cent of the electricity generation mix.)

With its vast resources, however, Canada could be doing more to harness its renewable energy potential and expand the share of low-emitting electricity production.

Hydroelectric power contributed 60 per cent of Canada’s total electricity production in 2006. In B.C., where hydroelectric power accounts for over 90 per cent of total electricity generation, expanding small-scale and run-of-river hydro is a priority for the future. Run-of-river is a green technology that uses the natural flow of a river to produce electricity with no large dam or reservoir. Although large-scale hydropower is renewable, it can affect the environment by flooding large areas for operations; methane, a GHG, is released in the process. Run-of-river hydro and small-scale hydro have the lowest environmental impact and produce no emissions.