Archive for April, 2023

Why Is Water Critical For Energy Production?

Via SIWI, an article on the watergy nexus: Water plays a critical but often overlooked role in energy production. In a webinar on 16 February, SIWI will explain how a focus on water can help us build more resilient and climate smart energy systems. Here SIWI’s Josh Weinberg presents a background. In a series of […]

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Big Dam Era Draws to a Close

Via Yale’s e360, an article on how sscalating construction costs, the rise of solar and wind power, and mounting public opposition have led to a precipitous decrease in massive new hydropower projects: The end of the big dam era is approaching. Numerous recently published reports reflect this planet-altering fact. One study, conducted by scholars at […]

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Awash in Toxic Wastewater From Fracking for Natural Gas, Pennsylvania Faces a Disposal Reckoning

Courtesy of Inside Climate News, a report on how a grand jury and the EPA have cited potential disposal problems, and activists are fighting new injection wells. Yet the gas industry claims fracking is essential for the state’s economic health and that most of its wastewater is safely recycled: Gillian Graber considers herself an “accidental activist,” […]

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Corpus Christi Sold Its Water to Exxon, Gambling on Desalination. So Far, It’s Losing the Bet

Via Inside Climate News, a report on how concerns over ecological destruction have delayed desalination plans for years in this booming seaside city, where environmentalists see water supply as the “chokehold” on an oil sector buildout along the rugged Gulf Coast of South Texas: Five years ago, when ExxonMobil came calling, city officials eagerly signed over a […]

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India’s Push for 24/7 Clean Energy From Dams Upends Lives

Via The Diplomat, commentary on India’s dam-building spree in pursuit of hydropower which has led to the displacement of people, deforestation and disasters in the Himalayan region: The pickup truck jostled away from the roaring Sutlej River and up the steep mountain path flanked by snow-capped Himalayan peaks, some nearly 7,000 meters (22,965 feet) high. The […]

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Are Floating Solar Panels the Future of Clean Energy Production?

Via Smithsonian Magazine, a look at the potential for “floatovoltaics” to drastically raise power generation and conserve water in reservoirs, according to a new study: Floating solar panels placed on reservoirs around the world could generate enough energy to power thousands of cities, according to a study published last week in the journal Nature Sustainability. Called floating […]

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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.”