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2007 Survey of Household Energy Use (SHEU-2007) – Detailed Statistical Report

PDF Version | SHEU-2007 Summary Report |
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How to interpret the tables

Scope of the survey

This report presents representative data estimates for all households in all Canadian provinces. No data were collected for the territories.

The survey sample included households that reside in

  • single detached houses
  • double/row houses¹
  • mobile homes
  • low-rise apartments²
  • high-rise apartments³

The survey data were collected in three phases.

Phase One collected survey data through computer-assisted telephone interviews with dwelling owners and renters.This phase of the survey was entitled Households and the Environment Survey (HES). The HES topics included household energy use characteristics; water, fertilizer and pesticide use; recycling; composting; indoor environment; vehicles and transportation decisions; gas-powered equipment; purchasing decisions; and air quality.

This report presents only the energy use data from the HES. For more information on the HES, contact Statistics Canada.

Phase Two of the survey focused on the factors affecting energy use in households. This phase collected survey data through a mail-back questionnaire sent to dwelling owners and renters. Also, landlords of rented dwellings and property managers of condominiums were surveyed in an attempt to obtain the most accurate responses possible. Landlords and property managers were questioned only about dwelling heating and cooling equipment, dwelling features and conditions, and energy use.

Phase Three gathered energy consumption data about individual households. These data were obtained either from the household or from the energy suppliers for the household.

For the purposes of this report, Phase Two and Three, as well as energy use questions from Phase One, are referred to as the 2007 Survey of Household Energy Use (SHEU-2007).4

Data estimates in this report are the result of merging data from the three phases of the survey. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) merged the data to improve the data estimates for SHEU-2007.

See Appendix A for more details on the scope of survey, survey methodology and the data merging methodology.

See Appendix B for a glossary of terms used in this report.

See Appendix C for the survey questionnaires.

Example of a typical table

All data in this report are presented in a data table format. A typical data table is presented below.

Example of a typical table.

This table provides data estimates for the number of households in Canada and in the Atlantic Region as well as the number of households by type of dwelling in both regions.

For example, if the reader wants to know how many single detached houses were in the Atlantic Region in 2007, one would look for those categories in each column (see red arrows) and locate the data estimate that lines up with both categories (see the underlined data in red). In this example, there were 728 212 single detached houses in the Atlantic Region in 2007.

The data tables in this report – excluding the data presented in the “Energy consumption and intensity” section – are presented in terms of the number of households that have the characteristics listed in the table.

In the “Energy consumption and intensity” section, the data are presented in the same format but include units of energy use (gigajoules) and intensity (gigajoules per household).

Quality of the data

The quality of the data estimates must be assessed because the estimates represent almost 13 million households but were created from a sample of approximately 10 000 households. The estimates are calculated by using a coefficient of variation. The results of this calculation are represented by a letter coding in the right column beside each data estimate. An example of the letter coding is circled in dark blue in the typical table presented on the previous page.

The letter coding is as follows:
A – Acceptable
M – Use with caution
U – Too unreliable to be published

Data estimates that receive a U code are too unreliable to be published because they either present too great a sampling error or had to be omitted to comply with the confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act. Consequently, any data estimate in this report that receives a U code will not be published.

Presentation of the data

If you have questions about the SHEU-2007 data estimates in this report or want a data table that was not in this report, at no charge, contact us:

National Energy Use Database
580 Booth Street, 18th Floor
Ottawa ON K1A 0E4

E-mail

¹ Duplexes are included in the double/row house category.
² Low-rise apartments are located in buildings that have fewer than five storeys.
³ High-rise apartments are located in buildings with five or more storeys.
4 Statistics Canada conducted Phase Two and Three on behalf of NRCan and refers to these phases as the “Households and the Environment Survey: Energy Use.”

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