2006–2012 Climate Change Action Plan

Sectoral actions aimed at reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions in Québec

• Energy
• Transportation and the municipal world
• Québec’s industrial sector
• Residual materials
• Agriculture and biomass energy valorization
• Government leadership
• Public awareness and partnerships
• Research, development and technology deployment

Actions addressing Québec’s adaptation to climate change

• Health and public security
• The environment, natural resources and the territory

Energy

Measure 1: Implement financing programs aimed at energy efficiency for individuals, industries, institutions, companies and municipalities in Québec

Energy efficiency means reducing or avoiding the release of substantial quantities of GHG into the atmosphere and simultaneously realizing significant savings in the cost of energy. The Action Plan contains a number of initiatives aimed at encouraging across-the-board energy efficiency in all sectors of Québec society. Measure 1 has four components.

1: A plan to reduce consumption of heavy fuel oil

This government plan includes fuel oil energy efficiency measures, measures to encourage cleaner energy alternatives and tightened fuel oil sulphur level standards, and is designed to make Québec a leader in this field.

• Québec unveils an important measure in its plan to fight climate change - Press Release (2007-10-01-French)
• A government plan to reduce fuel oil consumption, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ( Word document, 27 Kb) in French.
• Program to reduce the consumption of heavy fuel oil (French)
  Financial assistance is available for analysis and implementation of energy efficiency measures aimed at heavy fuel oil consumption or for conversion to less polluting sources of energy such as natural gas and forest biomass.
• Québec to tighten fuel oil sulphur level standards - Press Release (2007-10-01- French)

2: A program to optimize refrigeration systems

Refrigeration Optimization Program (OPTER)
This program is encouraging the use of energy efficient refrigeration equipment.

• Manufacturing sector
• Arenas and curling rinks
• Supermarket Component

3: Forest biomass heating assistance program (French)

This program permits building managers to turn to residual forest biomass for their heating needs. Residual forest biomass is defined as unused tree parts (branches, crowns, etc.) that can be recovered. Project promoters can receive financial assistance for feasibility studies and project implementation. The program’s objective is the reduction of 200,000 tons of equivalent CO2 over 10 years.

4: Support for manufacturing

The Manufacturing sector support program (French) offers financial assistance for analysis and for implementing energy efficiency measures for target fuels, i.e. light fuel oil and propane.

Measure 2: Amend Québec’s Building Code to improve energy performance of new buildings and homes built in Québec

Current new building and home construction regulations are more than 25 years old, and many provisions are out-of-date. In order to update its regulations, the Government of Québec wants to include mandatory new energy efficiency standards that will apply to residential buildings of three floors or less with a maximum area of 600 square metres when constructed or enlarged. To that end, a proposed regulation to amend the Québec Building Code is currently the subject of a public consultation.

Amendment to the Québec Building Code: tighter energy efficiency standards for new housing - Press Release (2012-02-13- French)