`URGENT NEED'
The average Essex County household uses twice the energy than the global best practice and the cost to the environment is looming large
Essex County has a voracious appetite when it comes to energy use.
Businesses and homeowners in the region's seven municipalities turn it on and power up despite the staggering costs both financial and environmental.
Research shows the amount of energy used in the average home in Essex County is more than twice the global best practice.
The 130 gigajoules of energy used annually by the average county home is significantly more than the provincial (107 GJ) and national (106 GJ) averages.
Emissions per capita are higher than the provincial and national averages and a whopping five times higher than global best practice.
In 2019, the Essex County community spent $820 million — $4,300 per resident — on energy and water related to transportation, residential, commercial and institutional activities with most of that money leaving the community.
The cost to the environment in terms of climate change looms even larger.
Flooding, shoreline erosion, 100-year storms that reoccur in just a few years and other severe weather events are all related to growing global emissions and their adverse affects on climate change.
“There's an urgent need to reduce our emissions in order to avoid the worst possible impacts of climate change,” said Claire Sanders, a climate change specialist with the Essex Region Conservation Authority.
Sanders was brought on board two years ago after the region experienced devastating flooding in 2016 and 2017, resulting in more than $230 million in damages.
“Climate change is a reality,” said Gary Mcnamara, Mayor of Tecumseh and, as county warden, co-chair of a new community task force assigned to develop a regional energy plan.
The task force is co-chaired by Dan Hanson, an electrician by trade and a past president of the Windsor Construction Association.
The task force includes a diverse range of stakeholders from transportation, housing authorities, school boards, business, youth, public and private sectors, commerce and utilities.
“We need the whole community to move this forward,” Mcnamara said. “We've been talking about climate change for 20 years but now we're seeing it. What they told us 20 years ago is happening today. We need to start paying attention.”
Mcnamara said the county has 90,000 homes built 25-plus years ago which leaves them sorely lacking in energy efficiency.
Sanders points to the positive efforts of countries such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden that have similar climates to Canada but with a longer track record of energy reduction efforts.
Energy efficient new builds and retrofitting older buildings in these European countries has reduced energy use by up to 80 per cent.
“Looking at these global benchmarks, we know these things are achievable,” Sanders said. “Those countries have been dealing with some of these issues longer than we have, but with retrofitting they consume a lot less energy, and they're probably more comfortable in their homes during the winter than we are.”
The regional energy plan calls for a robust retrofitting initiative that's projected to create 1,000 jobs by 2025.
“Municipalities are going to have to be creative,” Mcnamara said. “They need to think about grants, debentures, homeowners paying back some of these things on taxes.
“The potential is immense. If a homeowner is getting new windows or a new furnace, someone has to install it. That means jobs. Then the savings in energy costs can go back into paying for the retrofit.”
The reason energy use in the region is so much higher is more complex than just leaky windows, according to Sanders.
“It's also about how we make, store, and supply energy,” she said.
In Essex County, Sanders said natural gas for heating and hot water in homes and buildings is 25 per cent of the region's baseline greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
That could be reduced with an appropriately integrated solar thermal system for heat and hot water.
“Also, I find it interesting that approximately 21 per cent of the energy that Essex County residents and businesses pay for does not reach homes, buildings, or vehicles,” she said.
“This energy is primarily lost as heat when one form of energy is converted to another and through transmission and distribution. Electricity accounts for most of these costs. This highlights the opportunities to consider energy solutions that reduce system losses.”
Greenhouses represent 40 per cent of the county's energy use and contribute significantly to regional emissions, which is why the plan includes a call to action to have them and other industries “create a high level of energy efficiency.”
Municipal planning departments need to look at developing neighbourhoods through an environmental lens that encourages walkability and active transportation,” Mcnamara said.
County folks must also examine their driving habits in terms of reducing kilometres travelled, using public transportation or cycling.
The recent announcement by FCA Chrysler to build electric cars is seen as an environmentally friendly opportunity to support local business.
Presently, hybrid vehicles account for just 0.56 per cent of all vehicle registrations in Essex County. Fully electric vehicles account for just 0.1 per cent, which is half the Canadian average but far behind Germany's 27 per cent and Norway's almost 100 per cent.
“I think we're about to see a big shift and we want to be out front of it,” Sanders said of the future of electric vehicles.
The City of Windsor adopted a comprehensive energy plan in 2017 and the county is eager to follow suit.
The task force surveyed residents in late summer to gain insight into their thoughts about energy, climate change and GHG emissions.
Of the 166 respondents, most believed taking local action was of “high importance.”
They prioritized reducing the energy use of greenhouses and industry, transitioning to renewable resources from fossil fuels and education about energy use, climate change and sustainable actions.
Mcnamara said the region can ill afford not to act.
He said the $820 million Essex County paid last year in energy use will skyrocket to between $1.9 billion to $3.1 billion by 2041 “if we do nothing and carry on our merry old way.”
“If we don't do anything we're going to pay the price in rebuilding our communities from flooding and tornadoes,” he said. “Why not channel some of those funds into mitigation instead. It's important. We've got to start somewhere.”
The task force hopes to bring a regional energy plan to county council in April.