July 2010

CBEEDAC is developing its meta-database !
One of CBEEDAC's motivation is to connect data and survey holders with potential users, to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and practices on energy use in buildings. For this purpose, CBEEDAC has developed a databank of references on surveys, databases, literature articles and other energy-related reports that is available for on-line consultation. Professionals, governments, researchers, builders or associations can benefit from this well of information to find out about the data they need.
If you have or have had some data, survey or study related to energy use in buildings, you may be able to gain exposure and provide data assistance to others by listing your information on our database. Please fill the form below and we will contact you to decide together what information could be added to our meta-database.

Survey information form

Current projects

Electricity price awareness
It is generally accepted that consumers make decision on the quantity of product they intend to buy based on information on their income (budget) and the prices of the relevant goods. This assumption is probably true for most consumption goods; but it seems that the price of electricity is a difficult variable to apprehend for customers, essentially due to fragmented electricity bill and the rapidly changing rates. As a result, customers might not be aware of the price of electricity they are being charged for and therefore they cannot make fully-informed decisions regarding their consumption. In this situation, government initiatives that intend to limit energy consumption by modifying consumption behavior might not have the expected results. CBEEDAC investigates the awareness of consumers regarding the price of electricity by conducting a survey where a sample of Edmonton residents are asked to answer a few questions regarding their use of electricity at home and their knowledge about the price of electricity.

Energy use in rental multifamily dwellings in Canada
In the rental housing sector, responsibilities regarding energy use and energy conservation are split between landlords and tenants. The person who uses energy (the tenant) is often not the same as the person who pays for the energy (the landlord). There is also a potential for conflict in terms of adopting energy saving habits and energy saving appliances when the person who consumes the energy (the tenant) and the person who chooses the dwelling equipment (the landlord) is not the same. Current research is underway to examine the effect of these agency problems on energy consumption, on the adoption of energy saving appliances, and on energy-saving behaviours and attitudes in multi-family Canadian dwellings.

The effect of a carbon tax on the energy demand
A hypothetical carbon tax on energy would raise the price of energy sources. In order to investigate the effect of such tax on the consumption of energy, this project looks at the historical price elasticity of the demands of electricity, natural gas and light fuel oil and their evolution over time. The analysis examines the possible reaction of the consumers at a national and provincial level to see the effect the tax would have on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The analysis controls for factors influencing the demand of energy such as the weather, the income or the availability of natural gas in each province.

Data

CBEEDAC researchers have assembled a large database of prices, quantities and other related factors for the energy sector in Canada at the national and provincial levels. The data are collected for the residential, commercial and agricultural sectors and include various energy sources such as electricity, natural gas, light fuel oil, heavy fuel oil, kerosene and wood. Quantities are available for each sector but prices and other factors are often not available separately for the residential, commercial or agricultural sectors. Most of the series are available from 1961 to 2007, but for some, data for the early years or most recent years are not available at the moment. More specifically, the data set includes:

• Quantities
• Average prices
• Marginal prices
• Taxes
• Availability of natural gas (distribution pipeline)
• Population
• Weather conditions
• Economic variables (government expenditures, personal income, gross domestic product)

Most of the data come from Statistics Canada, the National Energy Board, Environment Canada or utility companies. Some data, such as the after-tax prices, have been computed by CBEEDAC. Ongoing efforts are being made to extend the data set to the industrial and commercial sectors.

This data set is to be used in research projects, in particular to calculate energy demand elasticities.