Canada residential energy use

Residential energy use, also called Home energy use, is part of what makes a home where the heart is. It's also where refrigerators and other appliances are, which facilitates many activities. Energy use around the house varies greatly by household, both in quantity (how much energy is used in total) and specific use (percentages used for different energy services). All told, Canadian residential energy use is roughly 1/6th of end use energy in Canada as shown in Figure 1.

Clearly, in cold climates like Canada quite a bit more energy goes into home heating (this is also true of commercial energy use). Across Canada, roughly five times as much energy goes towards heating a house as all other electricity combined, see figure 2.[1]

Appliances use electricity and make up roughly 1/8th of residential energy use, see figure 2. Of that fraction, refrigerators, ranges (an appliance that combines both stoves and ovens[2]), and clothes dryers use roughly the same amount of energy. The large 'other' slice in this case includes microwaves, televisions, and computers.

Figure 1. The above graph shows how Canadian end use energy goes towards different sectors. Hovering the mouse over a slice will give the total energy use in PJ.[1]

Figure 2. The above graph shows how Canadian residential end use energy goes towards energy service technologies. Hovering the mouse over a slice will give the total energy use in PJ.[1]

Figure 3. The above graph breaks up the electricity use for different home appliances. The 'other' category includes computers of various types including game stations, internet, and microwaves.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Data downloaded from http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/statistics/neud/dpa/comprehensive_tables/list.cfm?attr=0 on January 26th, 2015.
  2. Oxford English Dictionary, range, definition II.5a, "Originally: a fireplace, grate, or simple apparatus used for cooking. Now: spec. a large cooking stove, having hotplates on the top and one or more ovens, all of which are kept continuously hot; (also, chiefly N. Amer.) any gas or electric cooker incorporating burners or heating elements and one or more ovens."