Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene September - October 2016 Vol. 11 No.4 | Page 28
Clean Energy
Why clean energy is a water conservation strategy
A greener grid that slashes emissions may also be 40% less thirsty, boosting local resilience while meeting international climate and SDG commitments
By Kate Zerrenner*
R
seeing energy in relation to water–we will better adapt
populations to the volatile extremes of a changing climate.
My home state exemplifies the highs and lows and
extremes that some regions of the world are now facing.
Within the last five years, Texas has gone from the throes
of a devastating drought to historic flooding.
In this climate of feast or famine, both water supplies and
conservation efforts have a strong tie to energy choices.
Indeed, Texas’ evolving water reality has grown more
complex due to the state’s energy mix, which is becoming
increasingly efficient and clean.
But, as we are discovering, the converse also holds
true
ecent storms, droughts, and rising seas focus our
thoughts on ‘resilience’. That buzzword boils down
to building systems that can withstand and quickly recover
from the effects of climate change. In the water sector,
resilience means ensuring sufficient supply and managing
demand.
Yet this trend has revealed an encouraging development
that can inform long-term resilience plans for Texas and
the world: a cleaner electric grid requires less water.
If our resource utilities take a more comprehensive view–
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • September - October 2016
This view of inextricably linked resources is known as the
energy-water nexus. The nexus highlights the reality that
conventional energy resources, such as coal and nuclear
power plants, require large amounts of water to produce
electricity, while most of the water we use requires a
considerable amount of energy to treat and transport it.
Waste in one depletes the other.
Texas’ recent State Water Plan forecasts that from 2010
to 2030, annual demand for steam-electric water–water
needed for fossil fuel-fired power generation–will increase
more than 50 percent. That number is based on the energy
resources Texas deployed in 2010, as well as the state’s
forecasted economic and population growth.