Archive for March, 2012

Why Energy Use Is Really Water Use

Via The Atlantic, a brief look at the watergy nexus:     Every time you turn on your kitchen sink or flush your toilet, your electricity meter should be running. And every time your electricity meter is moving, imagine a faucet somewhere pouring out water at full blast. Water and electricity – two resources we […]

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From Qurayyah to Khurais: Turning Water Into Oil

Via Satellite O’er The Desert, an interesting look at How Saudi Aramco takes seawater from the coast, treats it, transports it, and injects it into the ground, thus helping to force the oil to the surface: Synopsis: A poignant little film about someone taking a lot of precious seawater, piping it miles into a parched […]

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How Are Water And Energy Linked?

Via Greenbang, a report on some of the linkages between water and energy: Most forms of energy we produce also require us to use water, often lots of water. Think of all the water needed to cool nuclear reactors, for example, or to generate steam to drive turbines in coal-fired power plants. Hydropower, obviously, couldn’t […]

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Will Fracking Destroy Colorado’s Rivers?

Via Ecowatch, a look at the potential impact that fracking may have upon Colorado’s rivers: Oil and gas drilling and fracking pose extraordinary threats to Colorado’s Denver metro and Front Range cities including to air quality, water quality in streams and groundwater, wildlife habitat, private property rights and landscape health. These impacts are generally similar […]

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The Watergy Nexus: Is Water A Barrier To A Low-Carbon Energy Future?

Via The Energy Collective, a look at whether water is a barrier to a low-carbon energy future: Ask an expert on clean tech what the largest barriers to a low carbon energy future are, and chances are they will list higher technology costs, policy barriers, or the need for new infrastructure to accommodate novel energy […]

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China Irrigation System Responsible For Rising Emissions

Via The Guardian, a look at the energy and climate costs of watering crops in drought-plagued northern China.  As the article notes: A villager looks after a water pump that will irrigate a wheat field in Jimo, Shandong province, China. Photograph: Wu Hong/EPA The irrigation of Chinese farm fields with more water pumped from ever […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As the scarcity of water and energy continues to grow, the linkage between these two critical resources will become more defined and even more acute in the months ahead.  This blog is committed to analyzing and referencing articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between water and energy -- The Watergy Nexus -- and will endeavor to provide a central clearinghouse for insightful articles and comments for all to consider.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy.  Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation.  He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”