Three Papers on Water-Energy Nexus

WaterWired has yet another post relevant to the water-energy nexus. This time, Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool from the National University of Singapore sent in three papers that all deal with the connections between water and energy.

Apparently, the papers were attached to an email that read:

Dear colleagues,

Attached are three articles dealing with the U.S. electricity sector and potential water crises that I thought you might find of interest. The first (Columbia Journal of Environmental Law) outlines the nexus between electricity use and water and proposes that the President issue an Executive Order to respond to electricity-water challenges. The second (Energy Law Journal) summarizes the nexus and focuses much more on what state and local actors, including electric utilities, can do to lessen their electricity-water needs. The third (Energy Policy) summarizes the first two studies and provides a detailed explanation behind our methodology.

Please feel free to distribute as you wish. As the Energy Policy piece explains, our methodology was admittedly crude and we made a number of assumptions that could easily change. That said, we truly hope the articles promote discussion and debate and contribute to a better understanding of the electricity-water nexus and its potential consequences.

Two of the papers are available for your reading pleasure below as PDF's. If you wish to read the third paper, email Dr. Sovacool for a copy. I have not had a chance to read any of these papers, but once I do I will post more on each one. Here's the citations and links to the papers:

Benjamin K. Sovacool and Kelly E. Sovacool, “Preventing National Electricity-Water Crisis Areas in the United States,” Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 34(2) (Summer, 2009), pp. 333-393. Download "Preventing National Electricity-Water Crisis Areas in the United States"

Benjamin K. Sovacool, “Running on Empty: The Electricity-Water Nexus and the U.S. Electric Utility Sector,” Energy Law Journal 30(1) (April, 2009), pp. 11-51. Download "Running on Empty: The Electricity-Water Nexus and the U.S. Electric Utility Sector"

Benjamin K. Sovacool and Kelly E. Sovacool, “Identifying Future Electricity Water Tradeoffs in the United States,” Energy Policy 37(7) (July, 2009), pp. 2763-2773. For a copy, email Dr. Sovacool.