Archive for February, 2014

De-Risking Water Supply Through Source Energy

From an innovative company called Energy Points, an interesting piece on the watergy connection below: North Carolina in 2007. Brazil in 2012. Texas in 2013. And California right now. What do they have in common? Droughts and heat waves are becoming routine in many parts of the world, and they can pose major challenges for […]

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In Parched States, Fracking’s Thirst Grows

Via the Los Angeles Times, an article on how some residents of Greeley, Colorado worry that as they sell water to the oil and gas companies that have brought a drilling boom to town, it will run out: A worker gives a hand signal over the sound of massive pumps at an Encana Oil & […]

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Rain Checked: Brazils’ Watergy Crisis

Courtesy of The Economist, a report on the watergy tensions bedeviling Brazil’s power industry: PRAYING to St Peter is not much of an energy policy. Yet that is what Brazil’s government seems to be doing by counting on rain—which, according to folklore, São Pedro dispenses at the pearly gates—to sort out a looming electricity crisis. […]

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Thirsty Energy: The Conflict Between Demands For Power And Water

Courtesy of The Guardian, an article on how water scarcity and poor hydro management can threaten energy production: The UK’s climate change minister Greg Barker and Nobel Laureate Kofi Annan will be among those meeting in Delhi this week to try to get to grips with one of the most pressing issues of our time: […]

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In California Drought, A Message To Consumers: Water Is Power

Via the Christian Science Monitor, an article on how California consumers are being told to save water now so they will have electricity later: The message to Californians is as unequivocal as it is counterintuitive to some: Take shorter showers, turn off the faucet while shaving, stop watering your lawn, and there might be enough […]

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New Hydraulic Fracturing Report Finds Texas and Colorado Face Biggest Water Sourcing Risks

Via CERES, a release on fracking via CSRWire: As hydraulic fracturing is increasingly used for oil and gas extraction across much of the United States and Western Canada, a new Ceres report issued todayshows that much of this activity is happening in arid, water stressed regions, creating significant long-term water sourcing risks for companies operating […]

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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.”