Canada will not track production of most renewable energy

Output from heat pumps must be recognized as renewable energy

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA, April 28, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — The trend towards electrification in Canada will not include the very significant production of renewable energy for thermal end uses.

Space heating and water heating in homes and offices consumed 1,967 petajoules of energy in 2019, according to the Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada. This converts to 550 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh).

If this energy is to be delivered by heat pumps (a major goal of electrification), it would all be zero-emission renewable energy. Currently, ground-source and air-source heat pumps are promoted as an energy-efficient option because they need a small amount of electricity to power their mechanical components, but labelling their output as renewable energy would accelerate consumer acceptance of the technology and allow heat pumps to be eligible for production tax credits and other incentives that are given to solar panels and wind turbines.

Heat pumps could produce all 550 billion kWh of renewable energy without need for battery storage, and their thermal energy could be delivered at any time of the day or year to avoid peak consumption by other devices on the grid, such as recharging of electric vehicles.

The estimate of 550 billion kWh is heavily under-stated, as data are based on 2019 consumption estimates. Heat pumps could also deliver another 22 billion kWh of space cooling to buildings, where demand is growing at a very rapid pace due to the warming impacts of climate change.

In terms of carbon emissions, thermal heating in Canada’s buildings emitted 91 million tonnes of CO2 in 2019, higher than the 79 Mt released from all passenger cars in that year.

NetZeroPLUS Canada was incorporated to promote recognition of thermal renewable energy, and it also calls for consistency in the labelling of energy outputs in kWh measure (instead of Btu, horsepower, quad, tonne, calorie, m3, barrel of oil, etc) which will facilitate comparison among supply options as the economy electrifies.

The association will launch an awareness campaign this summer to promote these measures as key factors in energy supply and emission reduction.

For further information, contact
Bill Eggertson at Bill@Net-Zero-PLUS.com
David Wilson at David@Net-Zero-PLUS.com

Bill Eggertson
NetZeroPLUS Canada
+1 613-663-5200
NetZeroPlus@email.com
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