Alex Carpenter and Associate Professor Heather MacLean of the University of Toronto, along with Carnegie Mellon University Professor Chris Hendrickson and Assistant Professor H. Scott Matthews, found farming and power generation are the largest sources of Canadian CO2 emissions per dollar output.

"This new modeling tool shows the dominance of electricity generation and it means that Canadians need to put a higher priority on our strategy for supplying our electricity needs," said MacLean. "Burning more coal without carbon capture and storage will just increase our greenhouse gas emissions, taking us in the wrong direction."

Hendrickson added, "We developed an environmental impact model that will enable Canadians to see what can be done to meet the Kyoto protocol, as well as examining the environmental implications consumers choose to make."

The model -- based on a comprehensive economic input-output table that represents the 2002 Canadian economy -- includes the 10 leading Canadian sectors contributing to the nation's largest carbon dioxide emissions.

The model, which shows the emissions for all sectors in the supply chain, is available at www.eiolca.net.