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Households and the Environment Survey: Energy Use

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Natural gas and electricity were the most common types of energy used for home heating in 2007, accounting for four-fifths of all the energy consumed by Canadian households.

Just under half (47%) of households used natural gas as their main heating fuel, while 37% used electricity. A further 9% used oil, 6% used wood or wood pellets and 1% used propane.

Electricity was the principal source of energy in three provinces: Quebec, Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick. Natural gas is generally unavailable to most households East of Ontario.

The average Canadian household consumed 106 gigajoules of energy for use in the home in 2007. One gigajoule has the energy content of a 30-litre tank of gasoline.

Average household energy consumption was highest in Alberta and Saskatchewan; households in Quebec and British Columbia had the lowest. Households in apartments used on average one-third the amount of energy used by households in single-family dwellings.

Between 2003 and 2007, half of Canadian households that owned their dwelling and were not in an apartment made an improvement to their dwelling intended to reduce energy consumption, such as improving the insulation or upgrading doors, windows or roofs. Households in Prince Edward Island (60%), Ontario (58%) and Manitoba (55%) were most likely to have made an improvement.

Note: These data came from the energy use supplement of the 2007 Households and the Environment Survey. This supplement had three themes: heating fuels and equipment; energy consumption by household and dwelling characteristics; energy-saving practices and retrofitting practices.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3881.

The Households and the Environment: Energy Use Report, 2007 (11-526-S, free), is now available from the Key resource module of our website under Publications.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact the information officer (613-951-0297; fax: 613-951-0634; environ@statcan.gc.ca), Environment Accounts and Statistics Division.