Water and energy are both interlinked and very interdependent. They both have direct and indirect impacts because the energy production being pursued determines the amount of water required to produce the energy.





Freshwater and energy are vital for human existence, well-being and sustainable socio-economic development. More than 1.3 billion people still lack access to electricity, especially rural areas where 2.6 billion people use biomass for cooking leading to major health issues.





The countries with the most rapid economic growth face the greatest risk of water and energy risks.





Approximately 90% of global power generation is water intensive.





Thermal power plants are responsible for roughly 80% of the global electricity production. Power plant cooling is responsible for 43% of total freshwater withdrawals in Europe and nearly 50% in the United States.









Growing demand for limited water supplies places

increasing pressure on water intensive energy producers

to seek alternative approaches, especially in areas where

energy is competing with other major water users

(agriculture, manufacturing, drinking water and sanitation

services for cities) and where water uses may be restricted

to maintain healthy ecosystems.

In the context of thermal power generation , there is an

increasing potential for serious conflict between power,

other water users and environmental considerations.





Trade-offs can sometimes be reduced by technological

advances, but these advances may carry trade-offs of their

own. From a water perspective, solar photovoltaic and

wind are clearly the most sustainable sources for power

generation.





Support for the development of renewable

energy, which remains far below that for fossil fuels, will

need to increase dramatically before it makes a significant

change in the global energy mix, and by association,

in water demand.





Use of geothermal energy for power

generation is underdeveloped and its potential is greatly

under appreciated. It is climate independent, produces

minimal or near-zero greenhouse gas emissions, does not

consume water, and its availability is infinite at human

time scales.





Agriculture is currently the largest user of water at the

global level, accounting for some 70% of total withdrawals.





The food production and supply chain accounts for about

one-third of total global energy consumption. The demand

for agricultural feed stocks for bio fuels is the largest source

of new demand for agricultural production in decades,

and was a driving factor behind the 2007–2008 spike in

world commodity prices.

As bio fuels also require water for their processing stages, the water requirements of bio fuels produced from irrigated crops can be much larger

than for fossil fuels.





Energy subsidies allowing farmers

to pump aquifers at unsustainable rates of extraction

have led to the depletion of groundwater reserves.





Applying energy efficiency measures at the farm and at

all subsequent stages along the agri-food chain can bring

direct savings, through technological and behavioural

changes, or indirect savings, through co-benefits derived

from the adoption of argo-ecological farming practices.





Knowledge-based precision irrigation can provide flexible,

reliable and efficient water application, which can be

complemented by deficit irrigation and waste water reuse.









Many rapidly growing

cities in developing countries

already face problems related to water and energy and

have limited capacity to respond.





As energy cost is

usually the greatest expenditure for water and waste water

utilities, audits to identify and reduce water and energy

losses and enhance efficiency can result in substantial

energy and financial savings.





The future water and energy

consumption of a new or an expanding city can be

reduced during the early stages of urban planning through

the development of compact settlements and investment

in systems for integrated urban water management.





Such

systems and practices include the conservation of water

sources, the use of multiple water sources – including

rainwater harvesting, storm water management and

waste water reuse – and the treatment of water to the

quality needed for its use rather than treating all water

to a potable standard.





The chemically bound energy in

waste water can be used for domestic cooking and heating,

as fuel for vehicles and power plants, or for operating

the treatment plant itself. This bio-gas replaces fossil

fuels, reduces the amount of sludge to be disposed of and

achieves financial savings for the plant.





The availability of adequate quantities of water, of

sufficient quality, depends on healthy ecosystems

and can

be considered an ecosystem service. The maintenance of

environmental flows enables this and other ecosystem

services that are fundamental to sustainable economic

growth and human well-being.





Ecosystem services are

being compromised worldwide, and energy production

is one of the drivers of this process.





Natural or green

infrastructure can complement, augment or replace the

services provided by traditional engineered infrastructure,

creating additional benefits in terms of cost-effectiveness,

risk management and sustainable development overall.









Cleantech Grants











