Page 9 - SD_NG_BC

Copyright © 2014 by SDTC™ Sustainable Development Business Case 3

2 Executive Summary

This SD Business Case™ report focuses on impacts of downstream natural gas use in Canada. For the purpose of the analysis, downstream natural gas has been divided into six sub-sectors including:

• Residential

• Commercial

• Industrial

• Power Generation

• Transportation

• Renewable Natural Gas (RNG)

The renewable natural gas sub-sector is treated differently than the other sub-sectors, which only include downstream applications. For RNG, the sub-sector also includes production and gas cleanup.

This report does not include an analysis or needs assessment of upstream and midstream natural gas.

2.1 Downstream Natural Gas Use

In 2012, approximately 3,900 PJ (100,000 gigalitres) of natural gas was consumed in Canada 1 as per the breakdown below:

Figure 3: Breakdown of Natural Gas Consumption in Canada, 2012 2 *

11%

56%

16%

12%

4%

Power Generation

Industrial

Residential

Commercial

Other

According to the National Energy Board, approximately 5,700 PJ of natural gas will be consumed in Canada in 2030. This represents an increase in consumption of approximately 45% from 2012, with the greatest absolute increases in the power generation and industrial sub-sectors†.

* Power generation includes natural gas transformed to electricity by utilities and natural gas transformed to steam generation.

† Transportation is expected to have the greatest relative increase, but total quantity consumed is not projected to rise above 1% of total consumption