If all economic sectors have increased their energy use over the past 20 years, sectoral consumption profiles are quite different, both in their composition and in how they have evolved over that period. For example, the oil and gas sector is responsible for most of the substantial consumption increase observed in industry. Yet, in the past decade, many other sectors have either seen a decrease in their energy use or a slower growth rate compared with the previous decade. The latter is also true for transport sector consumption, which increased, but at a slower rate, in the past decade.
However, the observed efficiency improvements is both unequal across sectors and insufficient to stop the overall rising energy demand altogether. Increased demand (for transporting passengers or freight, or for larger space in buildings) have outpaced efficiency improvements.Taking provincial variations into consideration, this suggests not only that specific attention must be focused on industry and transportation, but also that choices in other sectors should be targeted to reduce consumption as, if it is far from sufficient in itself, energy productivity efforts are an essential part of the energy transition and GHG reductions.