Discussion paper prepared to provide information about Canada's resource potential, the contribution of energy to the Canadian economy, Canada's place in the world energy market, and the outlook for the development of Canadian energy resources. In addition, it provides background information on issues such as energy and the environment, energy security, Canadian ownership of energy resources, energy R & D and energy conservation. It concludes with an indication of some of the key challenges facing the energy sector. The paper was prepared before Canada and the U.S. agreed in principle on a free trade agreement and does not include a discussion of the agreement or its potential impacts on the energy sector.

With growing concerns about the security, cost, and ecological consequences of energy use, people around the world are becoming more conscious of the systems that meet their daily needs for food, heat, cooling, light, transportation, communication, waste disposal, medicine, and goods. Powering Up Canada is the first book to examine in detail how various sources of power, fuel, and energy have sustained Canadians over time and played a pivotal role in their history. Powering Up Canada investigates the ways that the production, processing, transportation, use, and waste issues of various forms of energy changed over time, transforming almost every aspect of society in the process. Chapters in the book's first part explore the energies of the organic regime – food, animal muscle, water, wind, and firewood-- while those in the second part focus on the coal, oil, gas, hydroelectricity, and nuclear power that define the mineral regime. Contributors identify both continuities and disparities in Canada’s changing energy landscape in this first full overview of the country’s distinctive energy history. Reaching across disciplinary boundaries, these essays not only demonstrate why and how energy serves as a lens through which to better understand the country’s history, but also provide ways of thinking about some of its most pressing contemporary concerns. Engaging Canadians in an urgent international discussion on the social and environmental history of energy production and use – and its profound impact on human society – Powering Up Canada details the nature and significance of energy in the past, present, and future. Contributors include Jenny Clayton (University of Victoria), George Colpitts (University of Calgary), Colin Duncan (Queen’s University), J.I. Little (Emeritus, Simon Fraser University), Joanna Dean (Carleton University), Matthew Evenden (University of British Columbia), Laurel Sefton MacDowell (Emerita, University of Toronto Mississauga), Joshua MacFadyen (Arizona State University), Eric Sager (University of Victoria), Jonathan Peyton (University of Manitoba), Steve Penfold (University of Toronto), Philip van Huizen (McMaster University), Andrew Watson (University of Saskatchewan), and Lucas Wilson (independent scholar).

Energy Efficiency (EE) has been recognized since the early 1970s as the most relevant mechanism to optimize the way we meet our energy needs. The rationale behind this book is to present where the Canadian EE sector stands today to all Canadian stakeholders and those interested around the world. The Canada Energy Efficiency Outlook aims to outline the different environments that support EE development in our highly diversified provinces and territories, as well as at the national level, and consequently allow the reader to better understand the complexities involved. More globally, this book serves as an important reference for all interested parties on how Canada has variably innovated and developed mechanisms to achieve the goal of making this country more energy efficient.

With growing concerns about the security, cost, and ecological consequences of energy use, people around the world are becoming more conscious of the systems that meet their daily needs for food, heat, cooling, light, transportation, communication, waste disposal, medicine, and goods. Powering Up Canada is the first book to examine in detail how various sources of power, fuel, and energy have sustained Canadians over time and played a pivotal role in their history. Powering Up Canada investigates the ways that the production, processing, transportation, use, and waste issues of various forms of energy changed over time, transforming almost every aspect of society in the process. Chapters in the book's first part explore the energies of the organic regime – food, animal muscle, water, wind, and firewood-- while those in the second part focus on the coal, oil, gas, hydroelectricity, and nuclear power that define the mineral regime. Contributors identify both continuities and disparities in Canada’s changing energy landscape in this first full overview of the country’s distinctive energy history. Reaching across disciplinary boundaries, these essays not only demonstrate why and how energy serves as a lens through which to better understand the country’s history, but also provide ways of thinking about some of its most pressing contemporary concerns. Engaging Canadians in an urgent international discussion on the social and environmental history of energy production and use – and its profound impact on human society – Powering Up Canada details the nature and significance of energy in the past, present, and future. Contributors include Jenny Clayton (University of Victoria), George Colpitts (University of Calgary), Colin Duncan (Queen’s University), J.I. Little (Emeritus, Simon Fraser University), Joanna Dean (Carleton University), Matthew Evenden (University of British Columbia), Laurel Sefton MacDowell (Emerita, University of Toronto Mississauga), Joshua MacFadyen (Arizona State University), Eric Sager (University of Victoria), Jonathan Peyton (University of Manitoba), Steve Penfold (University of Toronto), Philip van Huizen (McMaster University), Andrew Watson (University of Saskatchewan), and Lucas Wilson (independent scholar).

Taking a comparative case study approach between Canada and Germany, this book investigates the contrasting response of governments to anti-wind movements. Environmental social movements have been critical players for encouraging the shift towards increased use of renewable energy. However, social movements mobilizing against the installation of wind turbines have now become a major obstacle to their increased deployment. Andrea Bues draws on a cross-Atlantic comparative analysis to investigate the different contexts of contentious energy policy. Focusing on two sub-national forerunner regions in installed wind power capacity – Brandenburg and Ontario – Bues draws on social movement theory to explore the concept of discursive energy space and propose explanations as to why governments respond differently to social movements. Overall, Social Movements against Wind Power in Canada and Germany offers a novel conceptualization of discursive-institutional contexts of contentious energy politics and helps better understand protest against renewable energy policy. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of renewable energy policy, sustainability and climate change politics, social movement studies and environmental sociology.

A comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society throughout history, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. "I wait for new Smil books the way some people wait for the next 'Star Wars' movie. In his latest book, Energy and Civilization: A History, he goes deep and broad to explain how innovations in humans' ability to turn energy into heat, light, and motion have been a driving force behind our cultural and economic progress over the past 10,000 years. —Bill Gates, Gates Notes, Best Books of the Year Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. In this monumental history, Vaclav Smil provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today's fossil fuel–driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. Smil describes humanity's energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview. This book is an extensively updated and expanded version of Smil's Energy in World History (1994). Smil has incorporated an enormous amount of new material, reflecting the dramatic developments in energy studies over the last two decades and his own research over that time.