Efficiency is the latest buzzword as Albertans face growing energy costs, but when it comes to concrete actions the province's batteries are running low, an expert says.

Michal Moore, a senior fellow at the University of Calgary's Institute for Sustainable Energy, Envir onment and Economy (ISEEE), told a media roundtable in Calgary last week that more must be done on demand-side management (improving energy efficiency) at the government, market and customer levels to catch up with other jurisdictions around North America.

"I think Canada, and specifically Alberta, are just beginning to take a serious interest in demand-side management tools and technologies that are available," Moore said during the event, which was sponsored by Direct Energy.

Canadians rank among the highest users of energy in the world. On a per capita basis, each Canadian uses 249.2 gigajoules a year, more than their neighbours to the south who use 225.6 GJ per capita.

Michal Moore

Moore said he believes Albertans, surrounded by relatively inexpensive and abundant energy, find it difficult making the connection that change is necessary.

Change must begin at the government level - both with regulators and legislators - where decision-makers are armed with the tools that show them that the choices they make today will affect people's lives for several years to come.

"You've got to offer (decision-makers) something that gives them the incentive to impose costs on their constituents, although the market is certainly doing a wonderful job today of reinforcing the idea that costs are going up," Moore said. "So even in an energy-abundant economy like Alberta, you've got a forecast of increased costs to come and a great incentive to try and make the changes.

"You need the tools, you need the information and you need the incentive," he continued. "Right now the legislators and the regulators are just coming to the place where they're matched up with the consumers in terms of a concern about what it's going to take to move comfortably and competitively into the future."

And because consumers don't always behave in ways that benefit the common good, said Moore - a former commissioner with the California Energy Commission and chief economist at the National Renewable Laboratory in Colorado - they need the carrot-and-stick approach to lead them down the right path.

"The opportunities to (offer) a rebate don't come very often ... so when they do you have some pretty exciting opportunities to demonstrate how changed behaviour can make a difference," he said.

"Being able to link a rebate or a subsidy that can be applied for, or some financial reward given to the consumer that represents an investment in technology ... turns out to have what economists call a very large multiplier, which tends to reverberate in the economy, in this case consumers' own spending patterns."

Moore said he supports efforts by Direct Energy and other energy providers that offer programs designed to help commercial and industrial users improve demand-side management.

A service unveiled by Direct Energy last week, called Enterprise Central, enables companies to monitor their consumption in real time on the Internet.

The web-based portal provides customers with up-to-date information to help maximize energy performance, the company said.

Customers can choose components to access items such as energy-consumption data and have real-time control over key systems including heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting across a single site or multiple facilities.

Another Direct Energy product released earlier this year is the centrifugal chiller - equipment used to cool buildings - to help customers reduce the amount of energy required to keep their offices, condominiums or other spaces cool.

The company said the zero-friction oil-free unit provides 30 per cent more energy efficiency than equivalent technologies, in addition to reducing noise levels.

There are currently 18 of the chillers installed and operating in Toronto, Montreal and the Maritime provinces, and they will soon be installed in Alberta and B.C.

Bob Huggard, president of Canadian operations for Direct Energy Marketing Ltd., said it is always a challenge to convince businesses to make the initial outlay for more efficient equipment, especially given the competition for capital within most companies. Progress is being made, however.

"We work with property management firms and we're seeing their clients changing from wanting to put money into the marble floors and the entranceway to the condominiums to looking at how they can put money into the smart chillers," he said.

"They understand if they can save money on their energy, they can use that money to invest in the marble or the fountains or the mirrors."

Huggard also noted that, according to company estimates, the Canadian market for demand-side management initiatives is around $1.5 billion.

"It's a significant business opportunity for the energy service providers and for the clients to take advantage of."

(John Ludwick can be reached at ludwick@businessedge.ca)