Very often it helps to know what conventional energy actually costs us per unit of energy. In Canada, electricity is sold through regulated bodies and does not vary in price, but natural gas, propane, heating oil, gasoline, diesel fuel and other forms of fossil fuels vary more depending upon the current market price.

Many Canadians might be surprised to realize how cheap our energy costs are compared most of to the rest of the world, and how those low prices (as well as our relative wealth) have influenced our lifestyles. Suburbs, high-powered and large cars, general lack of public transit, poorly-insulated homes and love of travel are all recent phenomena which are directly related to the low price of fossil fuels. In societies which more and more accept the need to limit the production of greenhouse gases, it is reasonable to expect that the cost of all forms of energy will rise over the next years.

These are prices in the Ontario marketplace, as of the date and place in the footnotes.