Canadian energy
innovating for efficiency

Industry Partners

About Energy Efficiency

Improved energy efficiency is a measure of how much energy has been reduced to achieve an existing level of service or productivity. The International Energy Agency considers it the world’s “first fuel”. Reducing the amount of energy used for one purpose frees the energy saved for another purpose and is the equivalent of a new source.  The phenomenon is an important contributor to decarbonization.

Canadian energy producers and users take efficiency into account because it can be  an important source of cost reduction. Canadian governments and private sector organizations work to develop initiatives that include retrofits, regulations, and education.

Of all the factors affecting energy use, energy efficiency has been the largest influence restraining usage between 2000 – 2020.

Statistics

  • Between 2000 and 2022 Canadian energy efficiency increased 17 per cent
  • Over the same period overall energy use grew by 15 per cent; in the absence of the efficiency improvement energy use would have increased by 29 per cent
  • Canada is a member of the Three Percent Club, a collaboration of international governments and organizations working to put the world on a path to three per cent annual energy efficiency improvement
  • Canadians used only 75 per cent of the energy per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022 as they did in 2000
  • In 2019, Canada's energy efficiency sector was estimated to employ over 436,000 individuals

Innovation

In recent years, the Canadian energy industries have taken advantage of technological innovation to improve the efficiency of their own operations and to support efficiency development internationally. Governments across Canada have developed energy efficiency policies and programs. They have supported these efforts with billions of dollars’ worth of investment in retrofitting existing facilities, updating regulations and building codes, as well promoting efficiency education. In 2018 close to 51,000 establishments in multiple industries generated an estimated $82.6 billion* in operating revenues in sales of energy efficiency goods and services.

*Currency is Canadian dollars throughout unless otherwise noted.