Sectors and resources - Energy
Energy drives economic activity. However, in Quebec, the energy we use is, in 55% of cases, fossil-based and non-renewable (oil, gas or coal). From extraction to end consumption, burning these fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases responsible for global warming and air pollutants that affect people’s health.
Moreover, out of over 2,200 petajoules (PJ) used in Quebec counting all forms of energy, over half - 54% or 1,133 PJ - of energy losses are diffused mainly in the form of heat and are "related to certain system inefficiencies" during processing, transportation and end consumption. (Whitmore and Pineau, 2018: 5-6.)
Source: L'État de l'énergie au Québec (The state of energy in Quebec) 2018
The transition to more efficiently managed renewable energies is turning out to be the key shift to be made. Le Plan directeur en transition, innovation et efficacité énergétiques 2018-2023 (The energy transition, innovation and efficiency master plan 2018-2023) (in French), published in June 2018 by Transition énergétique Québec, envisions that by 2030 Quebec will have reached the point where its renewable energy will meet the vast majority of its needs and will be able to provide solutions to regions in the world that are seeking green energy. In doing so, it will meet the decarbonization objectives of its economy.
Implementing circular economy, which aims to extract fewer resources upstream, throw fewer away downstream and share more, is part of the solution to the energy transition. Among the 225 measures in the Master Plan, recovery of waste heat in the industrial and commercial and institutional building sectors, recovery of residual forest biomass, and life cycle analyses are all solutions that will enable Quebec to develop circular energy strategies.
In Quebec, there is a strong potential for recovering waste heat, emitted by data centres for example, because they do not generally require any transformation, the main limit being the distance between where the heat is released and its recovery point. Two possibilities are therefore to be considered. Buildings or industries requiring heat energy can be located near an industry that emits waste heat. It is also possible for an industry that emits waste heat to locate near buildings or industries that require thermal energy. In the coming years, Transition énergétique will continue to promote the recovery of this waste heat.
A text by Transition énergétique Québec