Energy literacy in Canada

Energy plays an important role in everyday activities, whether at a personal, institutional, corporate or social level. In this context, an informed or literate public is critical for the longterm conservation, management, pricing and use of increasingly scarce energy resources.A series of surveys were used to probe the literacy of Canadians with regard to energy issues ranging from relative ranking and importance of energy compared to other national issues, preference for various fuel types and willingness to pay for offsetting environmental impactsfrom energy generation. In addition, they were asked how Canada's government should prioritize national energy independence over trade, even if ultimately reducing imports might impact national economic health.