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OTTAWA, ON, October 26, 2005 (Refocus Weekly) Canada is one of the worst environmental performers in the industrialized world, and scores 18th among the 30 members of the OECD on its use of low-impact renewable energies, according to an analysis by an environmental group.
“Our research found Canada’s environmental performance to be surprisingly low,” says Thomas Gunton of Simon Fraser University, which produced the report for the David Suzuki Foundation. “Canada lags behind in almost every performance indicator.”
When large hydro is included, Canada scores fifth of 29 countries, with a score on the ‘Environmental Performance Grade’ of 59.8%. When hydro is excluded and only low-impact renewable energy sources are considered, the rating drops to 18th out of 30 with an EPG of 8.3%. Without hydro, Canada’s share of green power drops to 1.5%, or half of the OECD average.
The global leader in low-impact green power is Denmark, which produces 18.2% of its electricity using low-impact renewables, followed by Iceland and Finland.
From 1990 to 2002, the share of electricity generated in Canada from renewables (including hydro) decreased by 4% compared to the OECD average increase of 33%. When hydro is excluded, the share of low-impact green power increased by 88% over the last decade, from 0.8% to 1.5% but, on average, the increase in renewable energy production in OECD countries is more than two times the Canadian increase, the report explains.
From 1990 to 2002, Spain reported the highest increase in non-hydro green power at more than 1,200%, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom. The United States, Mexico and Luxembourg all reported a decrease in the amount of non-hydro renewables over that term.
Canada scored 28th on improving energy efficiency consumption, 28th on environmental pricing (environmental taxes as a percent of GDP) and 29th on energy intensity. The report, ‘Maple Leaf in the OECD: Comparing progress toward sustainability,’ ranked Canada 28th overall out of the 30 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development, and has shown no improvement over the last decade.
“Generating a higher proportion of electricity from clean, renewable sources of energy can mitigate some of the negative impacts of high energy consumption,” the report notes. “Although hydropower is renewable, it can have a higher impact on the environment than other renewable sources” including the release of the methane from flooding of large areas of vegetation and negative impacts on natural river systems and fish and wildlife populations.
“Generating a higher proportion of electricity from clean, renewable sources of energy can mitigate some of the negative impacts of high energy consumption,” the report adds. “The key benefit of renewable sources of energy, such as hydroelectric, wind, tidal, solar, biomass, and geothermal, is that they produce little to marginal amounts of the emissions associated with acid rain, smog, or climate change.”
Canada’s Climate Change Plan has set a target of 10% of all new generating capacity be from renewable resources.
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