According to
a Statistics Canada survey released on this week more Canadian
households are taking measures to conserve energy and help the
environment.   

These
measures include switching to lights that consume less energy,
depositing more unwanted electronics to drop-off centres, using
programmable thermostats and relying less on bottled
water.

 

The
report, based on 2009 data, notes that on average 15 per cent of
the average household budget is spent on energy.

 

The
Households and the Environment Survey, which collects information
on households’ activities related to the environment, was conducted
in late 2009.

 

According to details on the Statscan website, it aims
to “provide context to the science (i.e. the actual measures of air
and water quality and greenhouse gas emissions) by gaining a better
understanding of household behaviour and practices with respect to
the environment.”

 

More
than 14,750 households across Canada were surveyed by
telephone.

 

style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Water
Use:   Sixty-three per
cent of households said they used low-flow shower heads, and 42 per
cent had low-volume toilets. These systems are able to use water
more efficiently and help reduce energy costs.

 

Fewer
households were using bottled water as their primary source, and
the percentage of households that relied on bottled water had gone
down from 30 per cent in 2007 to 24 per cent.

 

style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Energy
Savings:    The
survey also notes that 88 per cent of households are using
energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights, fluorescent tube
lights, halogen lights or light-emitting diode lights. The
proportion of households with fluorescent lights was highest in
Nova Scotia.

 

StatsCan added that over half the households surveyed
that used compact fluorescent lights did not recycle them
correctly, and pointed out that this “can have a significant impact
on both human health and the environment” because of the amount of
mercury in the bulbs. Ontario and British Columbia households were
most likely to dispose of their unwanted lights
correctly.

 

style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Lower
Heat:Forty-nine percent of households were
using programmable thermostats. Of these households 88 per cent
actually used to programming options. Most people programmed their
devices to lower the temperature while they were
asleep.

 

The
report also said that two-thirds of households in Canada had were
using drying racks or clotheslines instead of drying machines and
that eight out of 10 households said they had purchased
environmentally-friendly cleaning products.

 

style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;”>Recycling:
    The report found that as the
use of electronic devices was increasing in Canada, as was the
percentage of households that recycled them correctly. In 2009, 45
per cent of households took their unwanted electronics to drop-off
centres. Eleven per cent threw them in the garbage, while 22 per
cent gave them away or donated them to charity.

 

The
next Households and the Environment Survey should be conducted
sometime in 2011, and the results will be made available in
2013.