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What are the key takeaways from the World Economic Forum’s latest report on energy? One, global energy demand is showing no signs of slowing down, despite “peak driving” having arrived already in the US and Europe. Two, if we’re going to ease energy poverty for the large chunk
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With water stresses already at high levels in many parts of the world and not expected to ease in 2013, a number of innovators are trying new technologies to produce, purify and conserve this critical resource. New solutions will be needed across the globe. The central US, for example, which
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From space, our planet might look like a “big blue marble” rich with water. On the ground, though, reality is different: water use in many parts of the world has become unsustainable, threatening not only local populations but global agriculture and business as well. Water stress has “major implications for
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Most forms of energy we produce also require us to use water, often lots of water. Think of all the water needed to cool nuclear reactors, for example, or to generate steam to drive turbines in coal-fired power plants. Hydropower, obviously, couldn’t exist without water. Nor could biofuels … unless
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This year’s World Water Day is focused on the most essential way in which we use water: to produce the food we eat. As the United Nations reminds us today, water and food security are inextricably linked. But so too are water and energy. It’s a connection we
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Just as smart electricity meters are touted as a way to better control energy consumption and waste, smart water meters promise to help cities around the world stem losses due to everything from aging, leaky pipes to outright theft. A SmartReach consortium metering trial under way in Reading and London,
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It’s been said that water is the next oil … as in, it’s the next resource we’ll find increasingly harder and more costly to use. That presents a growing challenge not only for individual users, but for the water companies that supply them. Water utilities, like electricity companies,
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Energy and water are linked in many ways, though we don’t always give much thought to the connections. A lot of water, for example, is used in producing electricity … whether it’s to provide cooling at nuclear power plants or to create steam to drive generators at a solar-thermal
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For all the complaining about waste in Washington, DC, it seems that some federal agencies are doing pretty well at cutting back on wasted energy and water. This year’s winners of Federal Energy and Water Management Awards, now in their 30th year, helped to reduce energy use by 7.
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Having completed early tests of an energy-saving method for turning saltwater into clean drinking water, Siemens is preparing to take its technology to the product development phase. The technology, which uses half as much energy as other desalination processes, was tested at a demonstration plant built in Singapore. Siemens now
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Electricity and gas companies aren’t the only utilities are worried about keeping their services going as demand rises while resources grow increasingly constrained. Water utilities also have reasons for concern. That’s because the growing middle classes of the world want more water not just for drinking, but consume
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How can water utilities keep supplies flowing even when demand is at its highest? FreeWave Technologies and Rockwell Automation are banking on wireless communications and controls. FreeWave, which makes radios for critical data transmission, is teaming up with Rockwell Automation, to design and implement a comprehensive SCADA (supervisory control and