Canada is an important player in the production of energy as it ranks fifth in the world in terms of total primary energy production, with 19.3 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2008. The main energy sources of Canada include crude oil, natural gas and coal. Additionally, Canadian electricity is sourced mainly from hydro, nuclear, wind and solar power. Secondary sources include combusting petroleum products, natural gas, and biomass. Since Canada uses a broad spectrum of renewable and non-renewable energy sources, the country is able to produce more energy than it consumes. This enables Canada to export energy.

As it is already mentioned, Canada produces 19.3 quadrillion Btus per year, while local consumption is only 14 quadrillion Btu per year. The surplus of energy that the country produces is exported. The United States is the prime importer of Canadian energy. Most of these exports are in the form of crude oil (1.01 million barrels per day), petroleum products (125,000 barrels per day), natural gas (9.9 billion cubic feet per year) and electricity (31.7 megawatt-hours per year). In 2008 energy exports contributed $132.2 billion dollars to the Canadian economy, more than 27 per cent of Canada’s total exports.

Another indicative figure of the importance of energy is that in 2007, Canada ranked sixth in the world in terms of total electricity generation with 617 terawatt hours (tWh). The other top producers were the United States (4,157 tWh), China (3,041 tWh), Japan (1,058 tWh), Russia (954 tWh) and India (762 tWh). It is though important to stress that Canada generates 60.5% of this amount from renewable sources when the world average is 18.5%. Additionally, Canada ranks third in the world, following only France and Germany, in electricity export.

Hydroelectricity is the largest source of renewable electricity in Canada. With 368.4 terawatt hours (tWh) of hydroelectricity generation in 2008, Canada ranks second in the world behind China. The main reason behind this is that the country has the two necessary elements for efficient hydro generation – large rivers and sufficient differences in elevation to make them flow rapidly.

A second important renewable source of electricity production is wind. Canada ranks 16 in the world in wind-generated electricity with 1.8 terawatt hours (tW-h). The top three generators are the United States (52 tWh), Germany (38.4 tWh) and Spain (29.9 tWh). Other renewable resources used to generate electricity in Canada include biomass, tidal and solar. Tidal is basically hydroelectricity generated from tides instead of rivers and Canada operates one of the three tidal generating stations in the world.

Canada ranked second in the world for 2008 in terms of crude oil reserves with 4.89 billion barrels of conventional oil and 170.4 billion barrels of oil sands bitumen for a total of 175.3 billion barrels. Furthermore, Canada ranks 6th in the world in terms of crude oil and equivalent production with 3.3 million barrels per day. Canada’s exports of crude oil and equivalent amounted to almost 1.9 million barrels per day in 2008. Finally, Canada ranks 19th in the world in terms of natural gas reserves and third in the world in terms of natural gas production.

Currently, Biofuels, which include ethanol and biodiesel, are gaining in importance globally.  The main reasons are that they are renewable, carbon neutral, and decrease dependency on foreign energy imports. Canada recognizes this fact, and has invested in the aforementioned energy source. In 2007, Canada ranked fourth in the world in terms of ethanol production with 10,300 barrels per day and 22nd in the world with in biodiesel production with 1,600 barrels per day.

Finally, another important source of energy for Canada is nuclear power. With 88.6 terawatt-hours, Canada ranks seventh in the world in nuclear-sourced electricity. That can be seen as a natural outcome of the fact that Canada has the largest reserves of high-grade uranium in the world.

Canada’s energy industry is diverse as several sources are used. From hydro and nuclear power to oil, oil sands, natural gas and coal to biomass, hydrogen, wind and solar, Canada’s energy mix evolves, and will continue to evolve, as energy demand increases and new energy sources and technologies are developed.