January 16th, 2012
Via The Huffington Post, a report on Texas’ increasing watergy stress: Texas Senate Democrats worried Tuesday that continued drought could lead to brownouts and keep major firms from expanding statewide because of fears about an unreliable power grid. A growing population has left state planners rushing to approve coal-fired power plants, expand nuclear facilities, create […]
Read more »The Watergy Nexus: A New Report On Adding Water to the Energy Agenda
January 15th, 2012
I recently read a new report entitled “The Water-Energy Nexus: Adding Water to the Energy Agenda,” by Diana Glassman, Michele Wucker, Tanushree Isaacman, and Corinne Champilou (New York: World Policy Institute and EBG Capital, March 2011.). As it noted, “…as new energy policies are emerging– is the time to consider water. Energy decisions are a […]
Read more »January 14th, 2012
Via The New York Times, a look at one state’s efforts to determine how much water is used in fracking. As the article notes: A “fracking” operation near Big Wells, in which water and chemicals are injected deep underground to extract oil and natural gas. Starting Feb. 1, drilling operators in Texas will have to […]
Read more »Hunt for Gas Hits The Thirsty Land, and South Africans Fear Risks
January 2nd, 2012
Via The New York Times, a reminder that the watergy nexus challenge posed by fracking is not solely a domestic issue. As the article notes: Covering much of the roughly 800 miles between Johannesburg and Cape Town, this arid expanse — its name means “thirsty land” — sees less rain in some parts than the […]
Read more »December 27th, 2011
Via GigaOm, an interesting look at the energy potential of hydropower and its role vis-a-vis other renewable resources: Having now sorted solar, wind, and tidal power into three “boxes,” let’s keep going and investigate another source of non-fossil energy and put it in a box. Today we’ll look at hydroelectricity. As one of the earliest […]
Read more »Oil Industry Focuses On Water Use
December 18th, 2011
Via The San Angelos Standard Times, an article on the oil industry’s focus on water use, especially in light of fracking. As the report notes: “…Estimates of how much water will be used in Texas in the coming decades to extract oil and gas from the ground were lowballed, and the petroleum industry needs to […]
Read more »