Energy transition | Listen to the experts, Mr. Legault!

We can no longer ignore such signals. Another expert report unveiled on Monday shows that the Legault government is going straight ahead instead of taking the necessary and urgent shift in energy transition.

“Without additional measures to those identified in the Plan for a Green Economy 2030, Quebec will not be able to structurally decarbonize its economy and achieve its climate objectives for 2030 and 2050,” says Pierre-Olivier Pineau, holder of the Chair management of the HEC Montréal energy sector and one of the authors of theState of energy in Quebec 2023¹.

If the government ignores this other red flag, it must be concluded that it ignores the data and does not have the courage to tackle the greatest issue of our time. In short, that he chooses to rush into the wall with his eyes wide open.

Here are a few things from the report that should shake us up.

Incomplete data

Each year, researchers at HEC Montréal deplore the difficulties they encounter in carrying out their work. However, far from observing an improvement, the authors speak of a “deterioration in the state of energy data”. The findings described in the report date from 2020 or, at best, 2021. To succeed in our energy transition, however, we must know the state of the situation and document its evolution.

A diesel record

Despite the pandemic, the quantity of diesel used for road transport reached a record in Quebec in 2021. “That strikes me. Because that’s not what we should see as a result. We shouldn’t be breaking records for the sale of petroleum products in the transportation sector,” comments Pierre-Olivier Pineau. Overall, fuel consumption declined in 2020 and rebounded in 2021, but did not return to pre-pandemic levels. However, worrying trends prevent us from celebrating this statistic (see next point).

More and heavier vehicles

The Legault government is doing nothing to counter the proliferation of vehicles on our roads, especially sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Result: they proliferate. The number of vehicles per capita continued to climb in 2021. And the vast majority (71%) of vehicles sold are SUVs or light trucks, which consume on average 20% more fuel than cars, according to the document. The problem is that each vehicle that is added to an already saturated network will be there for years. “While the government talks about energy sobriety, the trend on the roads is in the opposite direction. Some might even speak of ‘energetic inebriation’”, write the researchers. We couldn’t say it better, and it’s high time to sober up.

More square meters to heat

Sobriety is not reflected in our residences either. Between 1990 and 2019, the surface area of ​​housing jumped by 21%. This means more volume to heat. This is all the more true since single-family homes, which consume more energy, are growing faster than apartments and condos. This largely electric heating produces few GHGs, but puts a strain on our network which must be used to decarbonize the economy.

Few dollars per unit of energy

If you believe that Quebec is making a fortune with its energy by attracting industries to it, think again. By dividing GDP by energy consumption, researchers at HEC Montréal calculate that the province generates only $246 per gigajoule (to give an order of magnitude, you can do about 100 loads of laundry with one gigajoule of energy). This is 17% less than Ontario and one of the worst performances in the industrialized world. Obviously, the climate and the industrial fabric influence this data, but it is nevertheless to be kept in mind as companies knock on our doors to use our hydroelectricity.