Key Macroeconomic Factors Affecting Canada's Energy Demand

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Energy is one of the most fundamental parts of our universe. Energy, the ability to do work, shows the important role it plays in our daily lives, the environment and the ecosystems. There is a huge reliance on energy for both commercial, industrial and domestic use. Backed by Economic growth, industrial output, inflation, exchange rates and population growth which are the key macroeconomic factors influencing the energy supply and demand outlook. Canada’s energy demand is expected to increase substantially in future, as well as GHG emissions, (Canada's Energy Future 2013 - Energy Supply and Demand Projections to 2035 - An Energy Market Assessment, 2015). Faced with non-renewable fossil fuels and the environmental impacts they create, Canadian …show more content…

The first factor to consider is cost. Cost is an integral factor when considering all the renewable energy resources. Compared to traditional fossil energy, renewable energy is far more costly to implement except for hydro energy which has proven its course in the past years. There is a trade-off between sustainability and environmental degradation in the sense that increased energy production using renewable resources would inevitably lead to environmental degradation, hence, making it non-sustainable. Although renewable energy resource would help curb the GHG emissions caused by the fossil fuel, but then, the environment is being enormously hampered and strain exerted as a result of pressure on resource extraction. For example, biomass require lots of trees for energy production which will lead to deforestation, and hence, all the negative effects of deforestation follows. Hydro energy and Tidal energy extraction indirectly destroys the coastline and marine lives, hence creating a spillover effect to both fishermen who would have less fish to catch, furthermore, leading to increase in the prices of available fish as a result of depleted population of fish, and illness to the population who will ingest water and fish infested by sediments from dams and rivers. Geothermal which could cause earthquake, which is detrimental to the environment and a large area of land is required to implement commercial solar