And of course, improved energy efficiency can mean fewer emissions of carbon dioxide. The need to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions is a key driving force for innovations in building technology, and it is probably the single biggest common concern among the many countries represented among you today. Under last December's Kyoto Protocol, Canada is committed to reducing its emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by the period between 2008 and 2012. Investing in energy efficiency is one of the most effective ways to reduce greenhouse gases. Buildings that are more energy efficient and environmentally responsible are a cornerstone of a global response to the challenge of climate change.
Buildings consume one- third of the total amount of the energy used in Canada every year.
My department of Natural Resources Canada has made significant contributions over the past two decades to developing more advanced building technologies. As a result, buildings constructed to C-2000 standards use less than half of the energy of similar conventional buildings. In fact, from coast to coast to coast in Canada, buildings are now being designed and constructed to these exemplary standards. We need to work toward the day when green buildings are the norm, rather than the exception. To encourage the wider use of energy efficiency, Natural Resources Canada has created an Office of Energy Efficiency.