Water and energy are the key resources required for both economic and population growth and yet both are increasingly scarce. The distribution and production of clean water takes large amounts of energy, and the production of energy often requires unexpectedly large amounts of water. Moreover, future energy and water production is expected to be most needed in regions that are already facing severe water stress, such as California and other Western US states.
Co-management and optimized use of water and energy is now recognized as essential. The challenge and criticality of optimized water-energy strategies are heightened by climate-driven uncertainties about water availability and temperature extremes, as well as by greenhouse gas mandates. However, development of optimized strategies is extremely challenging due to a variety of technical, political and societal issues.
This past May, Berkeley Lab’s Associate Lab Director Susan Hubbard served as a co-organizer of a DOE-UCOP workshop focused on the water-energy nexus, with a particular focus on California and Western US states. Joined by leaders from California and Western state agencies, water and energy utilities, regulators and researchers, the workshop distilled lessons and developed recommendations to enable effective and efficient joint water and electricity use and resource management. Dr. Hubbard led a panel session focused on joint water-energy optimization, as well as a breakout session on integrated water-energy policy for the Southwestern states. A brief summary of the workshop and early recommendations are described in The Conversation Report.
Many of the workshop topics are well aligned with California Water-Energy research directions underway in Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Technologies Area and Earth and Environmental Sciences Area.