energy and resource management

Energy use

TELUS remains committed to improving our energy efficiency and reducing our emissions of carbon. TELUS has been reporting consolidated energy consumption numbers for our Canadian operations since 2004. Determination of the scope of our direct or indirect energy use is based on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development's GHG protocol (GHGProtocol.org).

Most of the services we sell require the use of energy, such as electricity required to send signals to customers' homes and businesses and gas used to heat our offices. To allow for continued business growth, we have adopted the practice of basing our energy reduction target on the efficient use of energy. We do this by measuring consumption against revenue, an approach known as eco-efficiency. Our target is to reduce energy consumption per unit of revenue generated by 10 per cent by 2007 (below 2001 levels). In 2006, our energy consumption decreased slightly, due to a reduced use of direct energy sources. Our eco-efficiency result in 2006 improved substantially, due to strong revenue growth.

Our total energy consumption in 2006 of 1,032 gigawatt hours translates to 94 kWh per square foot of space (based on our 2006 estimate of 11,000,000 square feet), which is 11 per cent higher than in 2005 (83 kWh/ft2) due to a more intense use of our current existing real estate footprint. This energy use also represents 0.2 per cent of Canada's total electricity use based on 2003 results. See eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/canada.html.

Fleet

In 2006, we added 173 vehicles to our fleet. At year end, we had 5,273 vehicles in the TELUS fleet (not including ATVs). The distance travelled by the fleet in 2006 appears to have increased; however, this is considered to be the result of an interruption in the mileage reporting process in late 2005 caused by the labour disruption. Mileage was subsequently reported in early 2006. As a result, at this time we are unable to comment on fleet fuel efficiency and the possible benefits of fleet modernization and inclusion of hybrid electric vehicles. There was no impact to fuel consumption, as this indicator is tracked separately.

Energy conservation - In 2006, TELUS focused efforts on retaining an energy management company with expertise in efficiency and monitoring in order to improve our performance. We also adopted LEED silver as the standard for new buildings at TELUS. In 2006, we broke ground on new buildings in Toronto and Ottawa, both of which are intended to meet silver LEED status, incorporating energy savings features as well as making use of green power.

Air emissions - Since TELUS is not a manufacturing company, our direct air emissions (in CO2 equivalents) are the result of fleet operations, fuel use for power and heat, and releases from fire suppression and refrigeration systems. We also track indirect emissions resulting from energy consumption (e.g., electricity and steam). Our target for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is intensity based (similar to our ecoefficiency target for energy). Specifically, we want to reduce emissions per dollar of revenue by two per cent per year through 2007, using 2003 as our base year. Our CO2 intensity (measured in kg/$) decreased in 2006 and was on target, due to purchases of green power in Alberta, enhanced use of green power by the utility companies, as well as our increased revenue. This was despite small increases in absolute greenhouse gas emissions associated with increased electricity consumption. Our CO2 emissions were 0.04 per cent of Canada's total CO2 equivalent for 1999 and translate to 0.038 kg/$ revenue. See ec.gc.ca/pdb/ghg/guidance/protocols/Electric2003/p6_e.cfm.

We saw an improvement in air emissions in 2006 as a result of a contract with EPCOR in Alberta to replace 10 per cent of energy from coal or gas with green energy. We also accrued credits from our internal telework pilot that ran through 2006 (see page 8); however, these credits (totalling approximately 114 tonnes of CO2e) will not be applied by TELUS as they are not yet certified as offsets.

We agreed to participate in the Government of Canada's one tonne challenge in 2005. However the rollout was interrupted by the labour disruption. When the program was cancelled by the federal government, TELUS moved away from a targeted greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction program. Instead we launched an internal Green Team, which is tasked with identifying energy efficiency opportunities and green power options and leveraging the expertise of the TELUS team. The Green Team plans to implement new programs for corporate and team member engagement in 2007.