Energy  

Canada is a world leader in hydroelectricity, accounting for 59.3% of the country's electricity supply. Other sources include coal, uranium, natural gas, petroleum and non-hydro renewable sources. The generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in Canada fall primarily under provincial jurisdiction. The structure of the electricity sector has been evolving over the past decade. There has been a shift from vertically integrated electric utilities to various degrees of market liberalization and/or unbundling of generation, transmission, and distribution services in most provinces.

Wind energy is currently generating enough power to meet the needs of over three million Canadian homes. Three hundred and one wind farms are operating from coast to coast, including projects in two of the three northern territories. The installed capacity of wind generation in Canada reached 13,413 MW in 2019.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are rapidly becoming an economical, renewable technology to harness renewable energy from the sun. Most of the solar capacity in Canada is located in Ontario. In 2018, the capacity of the solar photovoltaic industry in Canada was 3,040 MW.

Renewable Natural Gas is produced from organic waste from farms, forests, landfills, and water treatment plants. The gas is captured, cleaned, and injected in pipelines to be used in the same way as natural gas by homes, businesses, institutions, and industry. Harnessing even 10 percent of Canada's RNG potential would generate enough clean energy to heat 1 million Canadian homes for a year.

Cogeneration offers a simple way of producing energy on-site to improve the bottom line by reducing the cost of electricity, heat, hot water, and cooling. The Cogeneration systems are usually built, owned and operated by Independent Power Producers who fund the Cogeneration systems and possibly other utilities in cogeneration-based eco industrial-institutional networks. The Canadian Federal Government provides incentives for Process integration subsidies. Funding is available to eligible Canadian Enterprises for up to 50% of a process integration study cost.

Canadians generate more than 34 million tonnes of waste per year. The number is growing at an alarming rate and creates an environmental burden that needs to be addressed in the short-to-mid term with effective and permanent solutions. 9.2 million tonnes are diverted, and 24.9 million tonnes are disposed of, with the vast majority reaching 95% to landfills. Biodegradable materials made up 64% of landfill disposals, and plastics made up 13%. Canada is reverting the tendency by lanching across-Canada MSW projects.