The Water-Energy Nexus

Water is becoming a more important issue for the planet every year. It is something that we must pay attention to for future generations.

For environmentalists reducing our carbon output in order to combat climate change often takes priority over other environmental issues.

It turns out however, that water conservation and reducing our energy use are intricately related. According to a 2009 report (dug up by NYT Green Blog) put out by the River Network, Americans use at least 520 Billion Kilowatt hours a year (equivalent to 150 coal fired power plants!) or 13% of the nations energy use to heat, treat and transport water for daily use.

This means that when communities are able to find ways to make significant reductions in their per-capita water use (click here for some easy conservation tips), they are preserving our water supply and saving tons of energy.

Energy use also uses lots and lots of water. The Department of Energy estimated that in the year 2000, 39% of fresh water withdrawals were used for coal, nuclear and natural gas power generation. So by reducing energy use, you save even more water.

In essence, increasing water conservation and energy efficiency lead to the same ends and are absolutely necessary to reduce carbon in the atmosphere.