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– 26 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.