ksun
Senior Member
hmmm... Canada in general uses only slightly more energy per capita than Norway.
Canada also is using 2.5 LESS per capita than Island.
Both are rather 'compact' countries by comparison and both are regarded as sensitive to their environment.
I am giving these examples not to promote energy waste, but rather to get some balanced view on where we are.
We are not as wasteful as the 'political green' mantra repeatedly suggests.
In real world the level of energy consumption is reflective on geography(climate zone) or (as a byproduct) on wealth of the country, in general.
BTW Ontario per capita energy use is less then half of that in Saskatchewan or Alberta and is one of the lowest in the country.
Yes, Canada (9.43 million tons oil-equivalent) uses similar energy per capita as Norway (9.15), but I am afraid Norway is not a shining star among Nordic countries. In fact, it is far higher than any other high latitude countries in Europe.
For example, Sweden: 5.43; Finland: 3.97, Denmark: 3.08. Russia is at 4.77. Doesn't make Canada look that good.
Iceland is off the chart even world wide (world number 1 in energy consumption per capita,), so being lower than Iceland means nothing. To give some explanation, it is because electricity price in Iceland is very competitive because in per capital terms it is the world's largest producer of hydropower, geothermal energy, and electricity in general. Also the tiny size of the country (equivalent to a small city in Canada) can easily skew things due to the nature of its industries.
Off topic, but thought it would be interesting to know.