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Energy matters | Eco-audit II | Fuel for thought | Tips for saving energy — and money! | CG Archives | A bright idea for recycling

Eco-audit II
Here, there and everywhere

In the May/June issue of Canadian Geographic, our annual Eco-audit explores energy use in terms of fuel sources, pipeline facts and energy recovery through recycling. But there was so much information our researcher, Jodi Di Menna, compiled a second energy Eco-audit looking at energy consumption in Canada, the U.S. and the rest of the world. Check out these facts to see how Canadians stack up.

Here
Percent of world primary energy production between 1992 and 2001 from Canada: 4.5%
Potential wind power in Canada: 28,000 megawatts
Current installed wind capacity in Canada: 200 megawatts
Total potential annual tidal power from the Bay of Fundy: 22,000 gigawatt hours
Total electricity generating capacity from tidal power in Canada in 1997: 20 megawatts
Per capita increase in energy consumption in Canada, 1990 – 2000: more than 18 gigajoules
Equivalent fossil fuel energy of this increase per person: 540 litres of gasoline
Money saved through improved energy efficiency in 2000: $8.7 billion
Amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided from these improvements: 38.3 megatonnes
Total value of Canada’s energy exports in 2001: $56.8 billion
Percent of Canada’s energy exports headed to the U.S.: 97%
Estimated crude oil reserves in Canada in 2001: 11.6 billion barrels

There
Percent of the world’s energy consumed in the U.S.: 26%
Percent of world primary energy production between 1992 and 2001 from the U.S.: 18%
Energy consumed by the average U.S. resident in 1997: 12,133 kilowatt hours
Projected increase in total U.S. residential energy consumption between 1995 and 2015: 17%
Cost to run America’s hot tubs for one year: $200 million
Number of barrels of oil used each day in the U.S.: 17 million
Fraction of that oil imported: more than half
Percent of world oil demand consumed in the U.S.: 25.7%
Average amount of carbon dioxide emitted annually from each American home: 10,400 kg
Percent of total U.S. energy consumption from renewable sources in 1998: 7.5%
Potential for wind power in North Dakota alone: one third of U.S. energy consumption
Number of pounds of carbon dioxide emissions spared by California’s wind power plants in 1990: 2.5 billion

Everywhere
Number of people worldwide currently without electricity: about 2 billion
Amount of carbon dioxide emitted each day by humans: 16 million tons
Fastest growing energy source in the world: wind power
Worldwide capacity for wind energy in 2002: more than 24,000 megawatts
Number of barrels of oil consumed per day worldwide in 2001: 76.44 million
Proven oil reserves in the Middle East: 684 billion barrels
Proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone: 262 billion barrels
Percent of the world’s primary energy production from petroleum in 2001: 38.5%
Percent of the world’s primary energy production from coal in 2001: 23.8%
Percent of the world’s primary energy production from natural gas in 2001: 23.2%
Percent of the world’s primary energy production from geothermal, solar, wind and wood and waste combined in 2001: 0.8%
Area of the world with the fastest growing energy consumption between 1987 and 1996: Asia
Top three energy producers in the world besides the U.S. and Canada in 2001: Russia, China and Saudi Arabia