Let me illustrate the connection between the two with a simple example.
We all know that producing electricity using any technology requires a large amount of water. Coal fired thermal power plants, and nuclear power plants all use boilers and condensers open cycle which consume large amounts of water. This water is not reused but released in the form of vapor and not used again. Hydroelectric power plants by nature use water, though it can be used for other purposes like agriculture. Places which depend heavily on hydroelectric power sources experience power shortages when there is rain shortage. Karnataka state in India is a known example of this.
Producing clean water and pumping it to cities requires quite some energy, mainly in the form of electricity. Water desalination, which is being considered in many places in the world to derive potable/drinkable water from sea water or brackish water needs considerable amount of energy, either in the form of heat or electricity depending on the technology used. Thus, when there are power shortages, there are water shortages too...
This example should clearly bring out the interdependence between water and electricity.
Thus, it becomes very important to focus on the solutions for both energy and water scarcity issues for anyone interested in finding solutions. On the other hand, any solution in either water or water will tend to solve scarcity issues in both areas to some extent.
Any water solution which uses excessive energy or any energy solution which uses excessive water should also be discarded and more efforts should be made to alter the solution to bring about a balance when solving the problems.
It is my belief that only renewable sources of energy will go towards sustainably solving the problems in both water and energy. Any non-renewable form of energy, however abundant will not provide a "environmentally sustainable" solution. Hence the focus on renewable energy.
The blog is organized as follows:
- Various forms of renewable energy will be discussed as an introduction.
- A detailed separate discussion of each form of energy and relevant technologies will follow. Here, we will give more attention to latest developments and useful technologies.
- Various solutions for obtaining potable/drinkable water, social solutions like rain water harvesting, governmental solutions like building rainwater conversation artificial lakes through employment schemes will also be discussed.
- Each technology for water solutions will be separately discussed in detail.
