Energy Water Nexus 2016
Water and energy are vital to sustain human life. The provision of secure, safe, and sustainable water and energy supplies are universal goals in every society. The “water-energy nexus” is the fundamental insight that energy is “water thirsty”, and that the provision of water is energy-intensive. At its simplest, this can be broken down into “water for energy” - water used for cooling power plants, processing fuels, etc.- and “energy for water” - energy used to move, treat, and heat water. Thus, access to clean water and sanitation can be limited by insufficient electricity, and protection of water against contamination can save energy while rising temperatures and droughts can disrupt electricity production. In the face of climate change, energy and water systems will continue to evolve, driven by mitigation measures affecting energy portfolios and technologies, and adaptation measures addressing floods, drought and heatwaves. The energy-water nexus implies that challenges and opportunities in each create tradeoffs and synergies in the other; innovative strategies for conserving or recycling water will alter energy use, and vice versa. This contest seeks high-impact proposals providing a feasible action that can be taken at any scale —local, national, regional, and international — that can drive us towards a sustainable and secure water and energy future. All proposals are welcome: technologies, policies, products, community projects, educational programs.