Energy, and the way we use it, is perhaps one of the most critical sustainability challenges facing modern day societies. We use energy every day, for almost every task. It turns on our lights, cooks our food, keeps our houses warm, moves us, and entertains us. In terms of importance to our day-to-day lives, energy is comparable to shelter, behind only food, water, and clean air.
How does Energy Work?
In physics, energy is defined as the capacity to do work. Essentially it is the 'currency' for doing things. Work is calculated by multiplying the power required to complete a task by the amount of time the task takes. For example, if it takes 1000 joules (one of several units used to measure energy) of energy to push a table for five seconds, then pushing that table used an average of 200 Watts (another unit) of power over the course of those five seconds.
Energy takes many different forms, like light, heat, and sound, and is measured using several different units, like joules, calories, and British Thermal Units (BTUs). When discussing energy as it pertains to sustainability, we typically talk about both heat and electrical energy, and we use either kilowatt hours (kWh), or BTUs as our units. Think about a lamp in your living room: if the lamp has a 100 watt lightbulb, and is left on for ten hours, then the work done by that lamp (providing light for ten hours) used one kWh of electrical energy (100W x 10h = 1000Wh = 1kWh).
What Makes Energy Unsustainable?
The problem with our current energy practices and systems is that we already use an inordinate amount of it, and as global societies develop and populations expand, the amount that we use will only increase. Using energy in and of itself is not a bad thing; unfortunately, in most places it is generated unsustainably using fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are unsustainable for a variety of reasons:
- They are a non-renewable resource – the use of fossil fuels is a very linear process. We extract the fuel, combust (use) it, and then it is gone. Fossil fuels take thousands of years to form naturally, and so our energy systems are currently dependent on a resource that will run out in the near future.
- The extraction process is environmentally damaging – the harvesting of fossil fuels, usually by drilling or fracking, comes at a tremendous financial and environmental cost. It destroys wildlife habitat, pollutes waterways, and contaminates the land to the point where it is unusable by people or animals.
- Their combustion creates air pollution – particularly with dirty fuels like coal, combustion of fossil fuels releases harmful pollutants like particulate matter and nitrous oxides, which poison the air and harm human health.
- They emit greenhouse gases – likely the most common concern regarding the combustion of fossil fuels for energy production. Fossil fuels, also known as carbon fuels, emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when they are burned. Greenhouse gases emitted from fossil fuel combustion are one of the main causes of anthropogenic climate change. Climate change is an incredibly important sustainability challenge that will completely change human and natural systems around the world.
So if we are using a huge amount of unsustainably produced energy, and our population is expected to increase, then it becomes apparent why our current energy systems are deemed unsustainable and why they must be changed. The most important step towards ensuring long-term energy sustainability is to decarbonize the energy sector. By converting energy generation systems from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources, like electric solar or hydro power, we reduce the environmental impact of our energy and prevent it from contributing to future climate change.
BC's Energy Mix
Unbeknownst to many people, British Columbia is already ahead of many regions with respect to sustainable energy generation. As their name suggests, BC Hydro, the province's major electric utility, is largely powered by hydro-electric dams. If fact, over 90% of the electricity supplied by BC Hydro is generated using hydro power and an additional 5% is generated using other renewable sources. This means that turning on the lights in your home in BC comes at a much smaller financial and environmental cost compared to a home in Germany or Australia. These countries burn large amounts of coal to produce electricity, which releases huge amounts of greenhouse gas and other pollutants in order to meet the electricity demand.
This is not to say that energy generation in British Columbia is perfect. Space heating and cooling of commercial and residential buildings is the largest use of energy in the province, and it is largely supplied by natural gas. Though it is often considered to be cleaner than other fossil fuels, natural gas remains a carbon fuel that harms the environment through extraction and GHG emissions. This is the reason why buildings emit more greenhouse gases than any other sector.
Transportation is the second highest emitting sector, as most people still use gasoline-powered passenger vehicles (cars) to move from point A to point B. These two sectors combine for almost 70% of BC's greenhouse gas emissions because the energy used to supply them is carbon based. Given that electricity generation in the province is largely clean and emits few greenhouse gases, converting our building and transportation energy systems to electric power would go a long way towards reducing emissions for the province; and ensuring sustainable energy for future generations.
For Your Home
Energy Saving Tips for Your Home
Whether greenhouse gas emissions result from your transportation or from your home, you can reduce them by making simple changes to your lifestyle that help to conserve energy. The first step is to reduce the energy used by your car; replace it with a more efficient hybrid or electric vehicle, or take advantage of other green modes of transportation. It might seem inconvenient at first, but it will quickly become part of your routine and it will have a tremendous impact on your energy use and your carbon footprint.
More than anything, conserving energy is about making subtle changes to the way you live your life in an effort to reduce your environmental impact. Repeatedly performing a task as simple as turning off a light when you're done using it is an easy way to turn it in to a habit. Once conserving energy becomes a habit, you will barely notice that you are doing it, but the impacts of your actions are much more substantial than you could easily quantify. The best part is, while you're providing an incredible service to your planet, you'll also be saving money!
Conserving energy in your day-to-day life is so important and so easy that multiple institutions and organizations offer tips and tricks to help people save. That advice can be found below:
- 21 electricity saving tips from BC Hydro
- Energy saving tips from Fortis BC
- Energy saving tips from the US Department of Energy
If you're looking to make a big dent in your carbon footprint and the amount of energy that you use, consider renovating your home to make it more energy efficient. Utilizing an Energuide home energy evaluation will help you identify areas that can be easily improved to save energy. Generally speaking, reducing drafts by weather-stripping and caulking is a cost-effective place to start, while increasing your home's insulation is a more intense and expensive project that will net significant cost and energy savings over a longer period of time.
Replacing older household appliances with modern, energy efficient models is another good way to reduce the energy that your house consumes. Energy Star and other energy efficient products can reduce the amount of energy needed to complete everyday tasks, like washing clothes or refrigerating food. You can use a cost calculator from BC Hydro or The Home Depot to determine how much energy and money will be saved by your upgrades.
For families who might face financial challenges when looking to save money by conserving energy, BC Hydro and FortisBC are now jointly offering free energy saving kits for low-income households.
Families facing cultural challenges or language barriers to conserving energy should consider registering for the Empower Me program. The program pairs households who need help understanding how to make their home more comfortable and energy efficient with a mentor who speaks their language and understands the challenges they face. It fosters social connectivity, helps people save money, and allows everyone to live their lives more sustainably.
For Your Business
Energy Saving Tips for Your Business
Like our homes, our businesses can use large amounts of energy, and finding ways to conserve it can have a strong environmental impact. BC Hydro's website is an excellent resource for saving energy at your business, as they offer both basic energy efficiency information and sector-specific strategies for saving on your bills. Fortis BC also helps facilitate energy conservation by offering tips and sharing successful strategies employed by other business throughout the province.
If you're looking for professional help to save energy, consider contracting an energy management company to help guide you through the process. BC Hydro's Alliance of Energy Professionals is also available to help your business conserve energy and save money. Beyond energy conservation, you can green your workplace to make it more sustainable. You can also find green business resources from the federal government's Canada Business Network website.
One of the best methods of making your business more sustainable is to begin accounting for the greenhouse gases that are emitted though your operations. Carbon accounting is a good sustainability strategy as it helps businesses identify where their emissions are coming from and what can be done to help reduce them. This can be done online or through a third-party accounting firm.
Once you have determined the carbon footprint of your business operations, reducing the impact of your energy consumption is an excellent way to make your business more sustainable. While it might not be possible to outfit your organization with a renewable energy system, it is possible to purchase green energy from Bullfrog Power. Customers of Fortis BC are also able to purchase renewable natural gas, a sustainable, locally-produced energy source.
Metro Vancouver and Lower Mainland municipalities invite you to join a group of local businesses that are cutting costs by cutting carbon emissions. The Climate Smart training program for businesses is built around a three-step process: measure, reduce, and leverage. Find out more about how it works.
While altering our lifestyles and energy use habits are important strategies for conserving energy, sometimes there is just no substitute for investing in energy efficient technologies and upgrades. Whether you're renovating your home, installing an EV charging station, or upgrading your appliances to be more energy efficient, institutions like BC Hydro and the provincial government offer multiple rebates and incentives to help cover the cost of conserving energy and living more sustainably.
Rebates offered by BC Hydro are intended to improve both home energy efficiency by upgrading appliances and prompting renovations, and business energy efficiency by connecting managers with energy professionals and motivating them to replace old technologies. Another way in which BC Hydro promotes energy conservation is through their Team Powersmart program; which challenges homeowners to reduce their electricity consumption by 10% over the course of a year.
Fortis BC offers a wide range of incentives and rebates for both business and residential energy use. This includes the replacement of old technologies, upgrades made to the building envelope, and the construction of energy efficient homes.
More comprehensive lists of the incentive programs available to BC residents can be found on the CleanBC, Provincial Government and Natural Resources Canada websites.
The provincial government enacted the regulation for the BC Energy Step Code in April of the year 2017. The standard aims to create healthier, more efficient, and more comfortable new buildings by establishing measurable energy-efficiency requirements for new construction. It aims to help ensure that new buildings will be designed and built, from the ground up, to be as energy-efficient as possible.
Using the BC Building Code to prompt the construction of higher performance buildings demonstrates the province's understanding of how important our built environment is to sustainability and the mitigation of future climate change. By increasing the energy efficiency standard for new buildings, the annual GHG emissions from that building's operations are reduced over the course of its life cycle. Given that buildings can exist for several decades, the total carbon reductions from this legislature are massive.
Within the step code there are several steps, or levels, of energy performance. The number of steps depends on the type of building being constructed. For detached, residential homes (part 9 buildings), there are five different steps demonstrating a pathway from enhanced energy code compliance (step 1) all the way to new-zero ready construction (step 5). You can learn more about how the code works from the provincial government.