At the moment we are going full steam ahead in preparation for the launch of our newest magazine, Water Efficiency, the inaugural issue of which will roll off the press at the tail end of August, so you might suspect from the title that I have an agenda to work. Yep, I do...but at least it’s honorable.

For some, the relationship between Water Efficiency and Distributed Energy may seem a bit obscure, but the more you think about it, the more the points of tangency emerge.

For starters, water and wastewater treatment systems are among the largest and most energy-intensive facilities owned and operated by local governments, accounting for 35% of energy used in municipalities.

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) reports that while roughly 4% of the total energy use in the US is dedicated to the conveyance and treatment of water and wastewater, the growth of this demand sector will at minimum track population growth. Estimating that 137.8 billion kWh would be used to supply and treat water and wastewater in 2005, the EPRI study went on to speculate that, over the next 45 years, electricity demand associated with supplying water and its treatment will (along with population growth) double. Irrigation pumping and industrial uses (excluding mining), however, are projected to triple in that same time frame.

So much for the power-required side of the equation...what’s the water-required outlook?

The EPRI report goes on to confirm that all regions of the US are vulnerable to water shortages, and that growing electric power and water demands will require more comprehensive management of water resources, a higher degree of integration between water and energy planning initiatives, more watershed-based regional planning, and the development of new technologies to address these needs.

As pointed out by the Energy-Water Nexus Committee, energy production requires a reliable, abundant, and predictable source of water, a resource that is already in short supply throughout much of the US as well as many areas around the globe. Only agriculture exceeds the electricity industry in the use of water in the US. Electricity production from fossil fuels and nuclear energy requires 190,000 million gallons of water per day, accounting for 39% of all freshwater withdrawals in the nation, with 71% of that going to fossil-fuel electricity generation alone.

Coal, the most abundant fossil fuel, currently accounts for 52% of US electricity generation, and each kWh generated from coal requires withdrawal of 25 gallons of water. According to the 2001 National Energy Policy, our growing population and economy will require 393,000 MW of new generating capacity (or 1,300 to 1,900 new power plants—more than one built each week) by the year 2020, exacerbating an already critical situation.

No two resources lie closer to the heart of the US economy and our way of life than energy and water. Food production, human health and welfare, manufacturing, national defense, recreation and tourism, indeed essentially every aspect of our daily lives all rely on a clean and affordable supply of both. Understanding the complex relationship between water and electricity and developing technologies to keep that relationship healthy is an important key to a sustainable and secure future not only for the US, but the entire world.

Water is an energy issue, and both water and energy are issues with huge international security consequences. Ensuring our water and energy supply will require multidisciplinary scientific and technical expertise and involve long-term, high-risk investment with what will amount to limited profit incentive in the short term. These factors lead to one clear conclusion: Innovative and non-institutional approaches are crucial if we and the rest of the world are to achieve success in our quest for sustainability in our water/energy requirements.

Do distributed energy resources have a role to play? You bet. Their contribution to both sides of the water-energy equation—especially those whose functions reduce the requirement for water use and can be applied onsite—cannot be overstressed.

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DE - July/August 2006