Project

Energy Efficiency: Engine of Economic Growth in Eastern Canada

By EDR Group (now EBP) and Dunsky Energy Consulting for Environment Northeast (ENE)

Energy Efficiency: Engine of Economic Growth in Eastern Canada, a comprehensive report released by ENE, finds that large-scale increases in energy efficiency investments bring about dramatic gains in provincial and regional productivity, household income, and job creation. The report demonstrates that expanding investment in energy efficiency delivers major economy-wide benefits -- in addition to already documented consumer savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

EDR Group conducted a macroeconomic impact study of multi-fuel, multi-sector energy-efficiency programs on each of four eastern Canadian provinces. Scenarios reflected the cost to adopters of energy-efficiency technologies, the persistent energy-savings, resulting in production off-sets to the energy generating/fuel refining industries, and spending related to program administration as well as energy-efficient technology investments for electricity, natural gas, and unregulated fuels. Scenarios examined the impacts, in terms of jobs and gross regional product, when one province implements measures alone or all in combination. Province-level and federal tax revenue impacts were also identified.