The Off-GridGreen Myth, Part II

Reader Contribution by Cam Mather

When Professor and Canada Research Chair Phillip Vannini came to visit us recently as part of his research on people who live “off the grid” he had just come from an off-grid home north of Toronto. This couple had indicated to him that they had gone off grid for “environmental reasons.” I can’t remember their exact distance, but let’s say they were about 50 miles north of Toronto (which you’d have to be to be able to afford any amount of property these days.) And it turns out that they worked outside of the home… in Toronto. They commuted back and forth every day.

Perhaps you can see where I’m going with this. Everything they do from an electricity energy standpoint is being offset by their transportation energy use. And what’s worse, in a province like Ontario where more than 55% of our electricity is nuclear (which I don’t like but which doesn’t emit carbon like coal) and 20% is hydro (with wind and solar gaining some ground as we close coal plants) electricity isn’t the problem for most people. It’s transportation and heating. Burning natural gas to heat your home or hot water is the problem. You take sequestered carbon and burn it and release that carbon into the atmosphere.

If you look at the Ministry of Natural Resources data for Canadians as a whole, which includes some provinces like Quebec and B.C. where most of their electricity is generated with hydro (water), and places like Alberta which is mostly coal, you see that really, electricity use in the house isn’t that big a deal. Almost 80% of your carbon footprint is how you heat your home and your hot water.

Source: NRCan, National Energy Use Database, 1990 to 2005 (2007), Comprehensive Energy Use Database,  Residential Sector, Canada, Table 2, “Secondary energy use and GHG emissions by end-use.”

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