Increasingly, Québec is faced with the fact that the province lacks the energy it requires, not only to develop its economy, but also to maintain its current industrial base. Over the next few years, Quebecers will face significant increases in the amount they pay for electricity and natural gas if nothing changes. This is true for households, businesses and industries alike.
One of the solutions we often hear is that we should collectively reduce our energy consumption and be more energy-efficient, to cope with the predicted shortage. But this does not make sense, and reflects a lack of understanding of domestic and international energy realities. Here's why.
Firstly, Québec is much less energy-intensive than it was some 40 years ago. Even so, the amount of energy consumed continues to grow systematically. If energy efficiency worked, the opposite would be true. But, in reality, the new needs of the population, demographic growth, the new ambitions of young people and the democratization of travel and leisure mean that increases in energy consumption will be far greater than any savings.
Secondly, there is a direct correlation between the availability and consumption of energy and people's standard of living. The world's advanced and emerging countries use energy and want to carry out more projects, more development and improve the living conditions of their inhabitants. This is particularly the case in Asia, South America and Africa, where hundreds of millions of people are emerging from extreme poverty. It's energy, through heating, the use of household appliances and the ability to move around, that makes this progress possible. And Québec's demographic weight is insignificant compared to that of so-called developing nations.
Thirdly, more and more nations are exploring production of new sources of energy themselves, so that their citizens can use more, not less. The whole world wants to be more energy independent by producing more. Senegal recently became an oil producer. Spain is undergoing a wind power revolution. Turkey, Greece and the whole Mediterranean basin are aiming to produce natural gas.
The solution is not to use less energy. The solution is to limit waste and use energy in the right way. The best energy is not the one we don't use – contrary to a widespread empty cliché – but the one that is used intelligently by citizens to meet their own needs.
To achieve this goal, we need to produce more, and also have judicious policies that are not focused on restriction or punishment, but rather on the completion of promising and dynamic projects.
Québec is no exception to this reality, and if it takes the path of energy deprivation too quickly, it will only delay its development and continue to lag behind in manufacturing and industry, while risking its citizens’ standard of living.
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