Energy Exchange

Holistic Energy-Water Planning: Hedging Your Bets in a Water-Stressed World

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: April 19, 2016

ewn road to resilience You probably have some sort of insurance – for your healthcare, car, house, or apartment. Acting on climate change is also like insurance. It is all about managing the risks.

We can’t know for certain what the future brings, but recent research predicts a 40 percent shortfall of available water across the globe by 2030. In the face of this prediction, a new report from the World Energy Council, “The Road to Resilience – Managing the Risks of the Energy-Water-Food Nexus” helps lay some groundwork to ensure we plan for the climate risks that will affect our most essential resources.

I have talked about the reliance of energy on water and water on energy (the energy-water nexus), and touched on their connection to food. But let me make that linkage clearer: 70 percent of available global freshwater is used by the agricultural sector, and energy is the second-largest freshwater user globally after agriculture (although this varies from country to country and region to region). Relatedly, about 15 percent of total U.S. energy demand is for the food sector (this includes both agriculture and processing), and roughly 13 percent of U.S. energy use is for water-related purposes. Read More »

Posted in Energy-Water Nexus / Read 4 Responses

How Energy-Water Data Can Help Cities Conserve Both, on World Water Day and Beyond

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: March 22, 2016

flickr broken water pipe Today is World Water Day, an international observance of water’s importance. This year’s theme is “Water and Jobs,” bringing awareness to the fact that nearly half of all workers on Earth (about 1.5 billion people) work in water-related jobs, and virtually all jobs depend on water in some way.

In conjunction with 2016 World Water Day, the nation’s capital is hosting the White House Water Summit. The President has called on organizations from around the country to voluntarily take new, specific, and measurable steps to address key water issues, such as drought or flooding, water availability, water-use efficiency, and water security. EDF heeded that call and made the following commitment:

Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is announcing a partnership with Pecan Street, Inc. to gather data and conduct analysis to help 50 households in Houston and Austin understand the connection between their water and energy use. Results of this analysis will help Houston and Austin reduce the water and energy footprint of the more than 3 million utility customers in the two cities. In addition, EDF will work with the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at San Antonio, and the University of California, Davis to help water providers of three to five major Texas cities better manage the energy use embedded in their water systems, with an additional one or two states to be announced later this year.

The work laid out here addresses the issue of embedded energy in water systems, or, in other words, the electricity it takes to secure, deliver, treat, distribute, and heat water. (This is part of what’s known as the “energy-water nexus”.) Read More »

Forget Taco Wars – the Real Competition is Over Who is Using Water More Wisely

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: March 10, 2016

Guadalupe_river_Hunt_TX San Antonio and Austin just called a cease-fire on a taco war over which city invented the breakfast taco. Both make excellent tacos: from the traditional chorizo and egg taco in San Antonio to a free-range egg and organic spinach taco in Austin. But this debate was about more than just tacos – it was about the history and culture of these two neighboring cities.

Only 80 miles apart, San Antonio and Austin have some significant differences. San Antonio is known as “Military City USA” largely due to its huge military bases, but it’s also known for other industries like biotech, military medical centers, and a dynamic business relationship with Mexico. The capital city’s economy, on the other hand, is based on high-tech, entertainment, state government, and the behemoth University of Texas at Austin. San Antonio is one of the largest Hispanic-majority cities in the country (at 63 percent in 2010), while Austin’s diversity comes in large part from people flocking to the Capitol from all over the state and country. As someone with roots in both San Antonio and Austin, I appreciate both – I’m an equal opportunity taco lover.

But both cities share an important commonality: exploding population growth. The population of the 13 counties that make up the Austin-San Antonio corridor is estimated to increase by 77 percent by 2050, to 6.8 million people. Extreme growth brings intense pressure on resources and services, particularly water in this drought-prone region. Both cities are standing up to that challenge through careful water conservation measures and by advancing clean energy. Read More »

Also posted in Solar Energy, Texas, Wind Energy / Comments are closed

Why Isn’t Texas Saving Energy and Water through Solar Floatovoltaics?

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: March 1, 2016

floatovoltaics flickr Symbiosis – in which different species have a cooperative or mutually beneficial relationship – is everywhere in nature: honeybees receive vital nutrients from flowers while delivering pollen (male) directly to the female parts of the flower; pilot fish gain protection from predators, while sharks gain freedom from parasites; and dogs protect their owners, while receiving food and shelter. Cited by some scientists as a major driver of evolution, symbiosis has played an important role in the mutual survival of certain species.

Two elements in nature that are also very symbiotic are energy and water: It takes water to produce and distribute energy, while energy is used to treat, pump, and distribute water. This inextricable link is knowns as the energy-water nexus. Yet, energy and water planners do not treat these important resources as symbiotic “species,” resulting in a lot of waste – something we cannot afford with climate change on the rise.

Floating solar panels atop bodies of water, or the cleverly nicknamed “floatovoltaics,” are a possible solution for both energy and water challenges. The panels help to reduce evaporation of water – critical in hot, dry places like Texas and California – and the water helps to keep the panels cool, increasing their efficiency. Plus, compared to more traditional fuel sources, solar PV requires little to no water to produce electricity. Incorporating more solar energy and relying less on coal or natural gas means greater water savings overall.

Floatovoltaics seem like a win-win solution, but it’s not being deployed on a large scale yet. Some countries and U.S. states have surged ahead in testing this technology. So why isn’t a state like Texas, with big reservoirs, crippling droughts, and lots of solar potential, taking this bull by the horns? Read More »

Also posted in Solar Energy, Texas / Read 2 Responses

Saving Texas’ Water through Smart Energy Choices in 2016

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: January 19, 2016

2015 proved to be another weird weather year around the country, especially for Texas. 80 degrees and dry in Austin on Christmas Day, spring wildflowers in bloom, and kids playing outside in shorts – a surprise ending to a wild ride of drought followed by devastating floods followed by drought and then more floods.

Texas is used to drought-flood cycles and extreme weather, but last year the pendulum seemed to swing wildly from one to the next. And climate models predict intense swings for the future as well: After the next flood is another drought, which will likely be more intense and longer than usual due to climate change.

Unfortunately, it seems like during our brief respites from drought, we also take a break from thinking about water scarcity. After the year we’ve just had, this should not be the case – water security should be at the top of Texans’ minds going into 2016. But there are two promising developments for our water future: the Clean Power Plan and examples that cities in other water-stressed Western states are setting. Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Clean Power Plan, Texas / Comments are closed

Star Wars Awakens Much-Needed Energy-Water Innovation

By Kate Zerrenner / Published: December 18, 2015

Originally published on CleanTechnica.

I was a little kid when the first Star Wars movie came out, and it’s not an understatement to say that it remains a huge influence on me. For those of my generation, growing up in the 1980s, it was a powerful “force” in our lives. The Star Wars films have arguably left a legacy like no other: in the 2011 census, nearly 200,000 residents of England and Wales identified themselves as Jedi Knights, the largest single category after the traditional, mainstream religions. And now, with the new film promising to restore fans’ faith in the franchise, a new generation can be inspired.

But aside from its devoted fan base, Star Wars and other sci-fi mega-blockbusters have a much greater role to play in our society. Science fiction both reflects the times we are in and inspires future technologies – not to mention the innovators that create them. This is true of most science fiction: think about Jules Verne (arguably the father of Science Fiction) and the influence 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had on submarines, or the original Star Trek series and communicators (flip phones), or 2001: A Space Odyssey and interactive computers (hello, Siri!). Read More »

Also posted in Clean Energy, Energy Innovation / Comments are closed