Archive for December, 2023

Every Bitcoin Payment ‘Uses a Swimming Pool of Water’
December 18th, 2023

Via BBC, a report on the excessive watergy impact of Bitcoin: Every Bitcoin transaction uses, on average, enough water to fill “a back yard swimming pool”, a new study suggests. That’s around six million times more than is used in a typical credit card swipe, Alex de Vries of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, calculates. The figure […]

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Solar Power’s Water Problem in the Gulf
December 17th, 2023

Via Bourse and Bazaar, a look at solar power’s water problem in the Gulf: Since the inauguration of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in Dubai in 2013, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has become home to an increasing number of solar power installations. The UAE has so far invested the most in […]

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If Hydrogen Production is Water-Intensive, Is It Still Environmentally Sustainable?
December 15th, 2023

Via KrAsia, a look at the water footprint of hydrogen production: While hydrogen production is currently not deemed a water-intensive industry, there are indications that it can exert significant pressure in regions with scant water resources. In September 2020, China announced its goal of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. The country’s […]

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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.”