Author Archive

Floating Solar: A Solution To Multiple Watergy Challenges?

Courtesy of China Water Risk, an interesting look at how floating solar is well-suited to China’s hunger for power and its limited water & land: Water has a unique propensity to never stay in one place for very long. Evaporation is one of its favourite ways to escape. Although the evaporated water ultimately falls again […]

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Texas’ Evolving Energy Reality: Clean Energy Uses Less Water

Via Breaking Energy, an interesting report on Texas’ watergy nexus: It’s been an interesting time for water in Texas. Beyond the incredibly wet and cool spring we’ve been having, Memorial Day saw the second year in a row of record-breaking floods. And a few weeks ago, the Texas Water Development Board(TWDB) asked for comments on the draft […]

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California: Saving Water Saved A Lot Of Power, Too

Via the San Diego Union-Tribune, a report on the electricity savings realized during California’s recently mandated water cuts: As debate continues in San Diego County and around the state over how aggressively to conserve water amid a historic drought, a new study finds that cuts in urban water use have saved significant amounts of electricity […]

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The Water-Energy Nexus in the Indian Ocean Region

Via Future Directions International, a report on the water-energy nexus in the Indian Ocean region: Key Points Water is essential to energy production processes in both the mining of raw materials and in power generation. Energy is required for the extraction, purification, distribution, utilisation and disposal of water. The risks posed by the water-energy nexus […]

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Coal: The Great Water Grab

Via China Water Risk, an interesting look at the water tension between global coal power plants and use of water for agriculture, industry, and cities: Highlights The 84% of global water consumption by the coal industry is from coal power plants, mostly from the cooling of power plants, hard coal and lignite mining is responsible for […]

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Zambia’s Watergy Crisis

Courtesy of the New York Times, a detailed look at the watergy crisis currently being faced in Zambia where severe drought magnified by climate change has cut water levels on Lake Kariba, creating electricity shortages.: Even as drought and the effects of climate change grew visible across this land, the Kariba Dam was always a steady, and […]

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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.”