Archive for March, 2016

Coal: #1 Threat To Global Water Supplies

Via Third Pole, commentary on a recent report outlining how coal use is the number one threat to water supplies: The burning of coal isn’t just cooking the planet through climate change, the fossil fuel is using large amounts of water in parts of the world where supplies of the most precious of natural resources are […]

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How Energy-Water Data Can Help Cities Conserve Both

Via the Environmental Defense Fund, a report on how energy-water data can help cities conserve both: Today is World Water Day, an international observance of water’s importance. This year’s theme is “Water and Jobs,” bringing awareness to the fact that nearly half of all workers on Earth (about 1.5 billion people) work in water-related jobs, and virtually […]

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Thirsty and Power Hungry: Report Ties Coal Plants to Water Shortage in Northern China

Courtesy of The New York Times, an interesting report on the linkage between China’s coal production to its water shortages: China’s consumption of coal, a major contributor to climate change and the country’s horrific air pollution, is worsening a severe water shortage in the northern part of the country, Greenpeace said in a reportreleased Tuesday. China’s coal-fired power plants consume […]

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The Parched Tiger: Water Scarcity’s Impact On India’s Power Generation

Via The Third Pole, a report on how two years of poor rainfall have led to such low water levels in Indian reservoirs that most hydropower plants are running at a small fraction of their capacity, while a thermal plant has shut down due to lack of water in the Ganga: Two consecutive years of […]

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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.”