From Wire to Tap: Are we flushing energy down the drain?

For my first post of the New Year I would like to bring attention to an excellent article written by Carol Maas - the innovation and technology director at the Canadian-based POLIS Water Sustainability Project - that describes the potential to cost-effectively save energy through water efficiency.

Carol is a leading researcher of the energy and greenhouse gas emissions embedded in water, and I have previously blogged about the POLIS Water Sustainability Project and their work promoting the soft path approach to water management. In case these posts don’t ring a bell, Carol was also involved in forming a coalition that is urging the government of Ontario to save energy and create jobs through an aggressive water conservation plan. She is currently working on a comprehensive analysis of the energy and greenhouse gas emissions embedded in Ontario’s water, which will be similar to The Carbon Footprint of Water report we published on the United States, only more robust. But I digress.

The article of interest is titled From Wire to Tap: Are we flushing energy down the drain? (PDF) and was published in the September/October issue of Canadian Water Treatment Magazine. In less than two pages, Carol describes the link between water and energy, the methodology she developed to analyze the potential energy and GHG emissions savings that can be achieved through water conservation and some useful research that help illustrate the energy saving potential of water-oriented approaches. For instance, by 2025 in the medium-sized city of Guelph (population 115,000):

A 20% reduction in municipal water use could power half of Guelph’s existing wells and, at today’s electricity prices, save more than $2,700 per week [nearly $1 million per year!] in water and wastewater electricity expenditures. The study demonstrates that water conservation led to reductions of GHG emissions comparable in magnitude to other innovative energy policy initiatives, such as powering half of the distribution system with clean energy.

And, as far as I can tell without reading the actual study, this doesn’t include the energy saved by end-users from reduced water heating, cooling or pressurization energy demands.

As the article describes, the energy and greenhouse gas emissions savings are even greater when water efficiency is applied throughout Ontario (emphasis added):

Improving province-wide water efficiency by 20 per cent in 20 years could save an estimated 1.6 billion litres of municipal water every day. This volume of water could roughly support the projected growth in Ontario over the same time period, obviating the need for infrastructure expansion.

A 20 per cent increase in water efficiency by 2029 could liberate a whopping one-third of the entire energy saving opportunities currently identified in the province’s municipal sector.This finding suggests water conservation could offer municipalities as much or more opportunity for energy savings than lighting, management of peak energy demand, use of landfill gas and clean energy projects. The energy saved in the municipal and residential sectors combined could power close to 90 per cent of homes in the city of Toronto—the clean energy equivalent of 1,200 windmills.

To download the entire article visit: From Wire to Tap: Are we flushing energy down the drain? (PDF)