Solar-Paneled Canopies over Canals Catching on in Southwest

Via Water Education.org, a look at the increasing use of solar-powered canopies over canals:  A solar-paneled canopy now under construction over the Casa Blanca Canal near Phoenix is on track to be the first project of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. Source: Tectonicus Constructs LLC An intensifying but unseen force is stealing precious water […]

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China’s Top Utility Completes World’s Biggest Pumped Hydro Plant

Via Bloomberg, a report on China’s advances in pumped hydro: Fengning station in Hebei province fully operational on Sunday Nation seeking to expand capacity to 120 gigawatts by 2030 State Grid Corp. of China has completed the world’s biggest pumped hydro plant as the nation ramps up its green energy capabilities. The ast of 12 […]

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Lithium Critical to the Energy Transition is Coming at the Expense of Water

Via Inside Climate News, a report on the impact that growing exploration for lithium is having upon water resources: Lithium needed for batteries that power electric vehicles and store electricity from renewable energy projects is likely to deplete—and in some cases, contaminate—local water supplies, according to a new paper published this week.  From mining the […]

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Rising Fortress In Sinking Land: Massive Sea Wall Around Lousiana Gas Plant

Via The Washington Post, a look at how far the fossil fuel industry will go to protect itself from climate impacts it helped cause: The marshes that blanket this pancake-flat parish south of New Orleans stretch for miles, strewn with small streams that flow into the Gulf of Mexico. A lone four-lane road goes south past […]

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Zimbabwe Plans to Install First Floating Solar Panels at Kariba Dam by Early Next Year

Via Bloomberg, a report on Zimbabwe’s plans to install first floating solar panels at Kariba Dam Installment of 150-megawatt project possible early next year Lower dam levels due to drought have resulted in power cuts An initial 150 megawatts of solar on the surface of the Kariba Dam will be the start of the project, Gloria […]

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Oil Industry Tries To Escape Water Crunch

Via E&E News, a report on the petroleum industry’s water crunch: Energy companies in the U.S. are searching for new ways to manage the water they use and produce along with crude oil. The U.S. oil industry has a double-edged problem: It’s running out of fresh water in one of the most productive U.S. regions […]

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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.”