Scientific experts from around the world gathered in Stockholm this week for the World Water Week to discuss the issue of water related crises the planet is facing as a result of climate change. California is staring down a record-breaking four-year drought while Brazil and South Africa have shortages in electricity, water and food supplies because of little to no precipitation. Puerto Rico also has limited its citizens to only two water rations per week. Water is central to this week’s climate change discussions, and the UN Climate Change Conference is set to negotiate a global climate action agreement, to become effective in the next three months.
HOW WE CAN COMBAT CLIMATE CHANGE
It is true that alternative, renewable forms of energy are acknowledged by the lion’s share of scientists as a very important means for copping the deleterious effects of climate change we’re all beginning to suffer together, but so far the significance of water’s role in this negative rodeo has slipped the public’s eye.
Water is an indispensable ingredient to most efficient forms of energy production. E.g., in the EU 44% of total water use is for the production of energy. To make this ordeal an ouroboros, energy is required to produce water for healthy consumption. It’s estimated that by 2050, the global population will require about 80% more energy, and 55% more water than the present demands. In order for us as a global community to realistically believe we can cop such a portentous future, we will have to work on improving the use and efficiency of renewable energy.
HOW DO RENEWABLE FORMS OF ENERGY CONSERVE WATER?
While generating power, solar power expends 200 times less water than a coal power plant to produce the same level of electricity. Wind turbines need no water to turn; only wind. IRENA found that doubling the world’s electrical reliance on renewable energy (specifically PV and wind) may reduce power production’s water expenditure by 52% in the UK, 37% in the US, 32% in Australia, 28% in Germany and 12% in India. This supposition finds support in the American Wind Energy Association’s finding that the use of wind energy in the country saved 68 billion gallons of water in 2014, with nearly three and a half billion of which were saved in Texas, with its penchant for droughts.
PORTENTOUS SENTIMENTS
Considering all of this, we must remember that the reason climate change is an issue at all for us is that the world is interconnected. We live in an ecosphere, not just nations or cities. The best way for us to combat this antagonism is to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels and onto other, renewable sources. So far, we’re making some progress, but if we don’t double our efforts by pushing policy makers, governments and private investors to put their power to work for the world, even their survival cannot be guaranteed.
