While the planet on fire screams the urgency to act and the billions spent for thirty years to fight global warming have yielded almost nothing, there is a safe and simple way to quickly bend the curve of GHG emissions : getting gas out of Quebec, particularly in residential, commercial and institutional buildings.
In 2019, gas burned in buildings emitted 6% of Quebec’s total emissions, the equivalent of the annual emissions of 1.6 million cars. Prohibiting the installation and replacement of gas heating and cooking appliances would reduce Québec’s carbon footprint by the same amount in just fifteen years. Six percent is more than twice the total reduction in emissions achieved between 1990 and 2019. This measure alone would therefore allow Quebec to make a significant leap in its decarbonization process.
The dual energy program recently launched by Énergir and Hydro-Québec may seem attractive, but in fact it takes us away from Quebec’s climate targets. This program will only allow a tiny reduction of 0.6% of emissions by 2030. By promoting the purchase and replacement of gas appliances, it will lock in gas dependence until 2050 and beyond, instead of freeing us from it. To make matters worse, it will be financed by Hydro-Québec customers who, unless the Régie de l’énergie reverses its recent decision, will be condemned to pay compensation to Énergir until 2050. A little as if the owners of electric cars had to compensate the Petro-Canadas and Shells of this world every time they close a gas station.
Another false lead is the regulation that requires Énergir and Gazifère to inject 10% renewable natural gas (RNG) or green hydrogen into their networks by 2030. Despite its green veneer, this regulation actually promotes the consumption of a mix where fossil gas, mainly from fracking, will still retain the lion’s share (90%) in 2030. Moreover, the climate benefits of RNG are uncertain, and its large-scale production presents significant ecological risks.
As for green hydrogen, its production requires huge amounts of clean electricity. The idea of mixing it with fossil gas to meet energy needs that electricity can meet directly, for the most part, is downright absurd, both scientifically and economically.
To justify maintaining a gas supply for buildings, the limits of the Hydro-Québec network are often invoked in the face of the new energy and power requirements that will accompany all-out electrification. However, this is a pretext since there are less expensive zero carbon solutions.
To ensure that we have enough clean energy to meet demand at all times despite the electrification of our economy, we will first have to make credible efforts towards energy sobriety and efficiency. How ?
According to Hydro-Québec, the technical and economic potential of the sector of efficiency in building and industrial processes totals, by 2030, nearly 25 TWh, or nearly a quarter of the total energy currently supplied by the gas. Added to these potential gains is the reduction in demand associated with, among other things, better land use planning, optimization of transportation and customer education. It will also be necessary to use technology by investing in home automation and in systems integrating heat pumps and heat accumulators.
Combined with the development of wind and solar capacities as well as heating networks and industrial symbioses, these measures and others can allow Quebec to break its dependence on gas while compressing total energy demand, modernizing its economy and reducing its trade deficit.
Since 2019, dozens of North American cities and states have moved to ban gas in new construction — including New York, San Francisco, Massachusetts, Vancouver and Montreal. We ask all political parties that wish to form the next Quebec government to commit to going even further by making Quebec the first territory in North America to remove gas from all buildings, new and existing. Quebec does not need gas!
* The full list of signatories:
Jean-François Boisvert, Montreal Climate Coalition
Mélanie Busby, Ahuntsic-Cartierville Environmental Mobilization
Emile Boisseau-Bouvier, Equiterre
Carole Dupuis, ONEplanet eco-citizen movement
Anne-Céline Guyon, Nature Quebec
Patrick Bonin, Greenpeace Canada
Krystel Marylène Papineau, Coalition Let’s Take the Carbon Out of the Box
Patricia Clermont, Quebec Association of Physicians for the Environment (AQME)
Marianne Papillon, Magdalen Association for Energy and Environmental Security (AMSÉE)
Jean Plamondon, Canoe Kayak Quebec
Pascal Bergeron, Foundation Coule pas chez nous
Eric Gagnon, Rivers Foundation
Gordon Edwards, Nuclear Monitoring Group
Laurence Leduc-Primeau, Group of Environmental Energy Organizations (ROEE)
Eric Pineault, Institute of Environmental Sciences, UQAM