"We will produce intensity targets over the short, medium, and long-term, and they will cover a range of emissions”
Prime Minster Stephen Harper, Vancouver, Oct. 10, 2006

That line of Harper’s -- part of a response to a question from a reporter -- sparked outcry and plenty of ink today. It's all about this idea of "energy intensity." The Globe's Shawn McCarthy has a nice primer in the paper today. Earlier this year, I crunched some data from Statistics Canada on "energy intensity". So, assuming you understand the concept of energy intensity, you might be interested in these notes I made:

Statscan measures the “energy intensity” of each industry and expresses this measurement in gigajoules per thousand dollars.

 

Here are the top 10 “energy intensive” industries in Canada in 2002. In this list, less is better — in other words, less energy is used to generate a thousand dollars worth of goods ro services.:

 

Electric power generation, transmission and distribution		54.97
Pesticides, fertilizer and other agricultural chemical manufacturing		36.16
Pipeline transportation		34.93
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing		29.39
Primary metal manufacturing		27.7
Pulp, paper and paperboard mills		27.36
Basic chemical manufacturing		26.4
Water transportation		24.97
Air transportation		22.61
Oil and gas extraction		21.33

 

Almost every industrial sector in Canada has become less energy intensive between 1992 and 2004.

 

Here are the top five industries which have reduced their energy intensiveness the most, as measured in gigajoules per thousand dollars:

 

Petroleum and coal products manufacturing	-23.72
Pipeline transportation	-23.23
Basic chemical manufacturing	-18.88
Primary metal manufacturing	-16.42
Pulp, paper and paperboard mills	-15.87

 

Here are the top five industries which have reduced their energy intensiveness the least, as measured in gigajoules per thousand dollars:

 

Monetary authorities and depository credit intermediation	-0.17
Owner-occupied dwellings	-0.07
Pay television, specialty television and program distribution and telecommunications	0.01
Administrative and support services	0.12
Fishing, hunting and trapping	1.07

 

Here are the top five industires which have reduced their energy intensiveness relatively the most, i.e. in percentage terms.

 

Waste management and remediation services	-15.63	-64.3%
Educational services (except universities)	-6.56	-53.5%
Tobacco manufacturing	-4.28	-49.8%
Rental and leasing services and lessors of non-financial intangible associations	-4.23	-48.2%
Natural gas distribution, water and other systems	-5.72	-47.4%