The cost of a Christmas for the planet

What is the ecological and energy cost of Christmas celebrations? Tour d & rsquo; horizon.

2.1%

While the year 2020 has been a historic year in terms of reducing GHGs (due to the pandemic), December was the only month of that year that recorded an increase (by 2.1% compared to 2019), marking the return to action of the economy .

15% more waste

A German study shows that the number of waste increased by 10 to 15% during the holidays. Source: Lfu Bayern, 2019.

2.5 million trees

1,771,944 Quebec trees were exported outside Canada out of a total of 2,520,000 trees sold each year. Source: Ministry of Forests, Wildlife and Parks.

98% of trees to the United States

This is the percentage of Quebec Christmas trees exported that make their way to the United States, mainly to the states of New York, Massachusetts and North Carolina. The export of Quebec trees generated income of $ 56,281,604.

Natural or artificial fir?

Artificial trees have a carbon footprint three times larger in relation to climate change and the depletion of natural resources . Source: Ellipsos.

$ 10 million of turkeys

In Quebec, approximately 2.5 million kilos of turkeys are sold in grocery stores during the holiday season, the equivalent of approximately $ 10 million. In addition, 40% of turkey production is sold in December. Source: The poultry farmers of Quebec.

80 kg of Co2

Avoiding buying unnecessary gifts reduces your carbon footprint by 80 kg per person. Source: Stockholm Environment Institute.

90%

Multi-colored Energy Star certified Christmas LED bulbs consume on average 75% less energy, and those of a single color , 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs. Source: Hydro-Québec.

450 megawatts

If we light up our holiday decorations 7 hours a day between November 25 and January 4, 450 MW of electricity is spent, or the equivalent of a third of the production of the Manic-5 plant, one of the largest in the Hydro-Québec network. Still, that's less than Americans, whose lights consume 6.6 billion kilowatt hours annually, which is equivalent to lighting 800,000 homes for a year. Sources: Center for Global Development and La Verified, Radio-Canada.

4.5% more electricity consumption during the holidays

From December 22 to January 4 and at the residential level, the average consumption is 78 kWh per day per subscription (approximately 4.5% higher than the average demand for the month of December). Source: Hydro-Québec.