Power-Water: The promising nexus for economic and environmental sustainability

Speaker: Peter Evans, PhD, Director, Global Strategy and Planning, GE Energy

Water and energy are inextricably linked.  Water is indispensable for the generation of energy whether from fossil fuels or renewables. Energy is needed for water collection, conveyance, treatment and distribution.

factors that are impacted by the distance to the water source, the environmental criteria required for water quality purposes and by the use of some technologies like desalination.

Water abstraction in Europe is by order the largest for urban, industry, agriculture and energy purposes. Water demand is expected to increase by 55% globally between 2000 and 2050 according to OECD “Environmental outlook by 2050” while predictions made by the Internal Energy Agency in the latest World Energy Outlook report indicate an increase of the world energy demand by one third by 2035 within the new policies scenario. These facts demonstrate that water and energy will be under increased pressure in the next decades and underline the importance to take into consideration this interdependency and to show “policy coherence” in new policy initiatives.

At EU level, the nexus has been identified and recognized as an area where policy initiatives need to be coordinated to increase environmental sustainability and even contribute to boost growth and economic recovery in Europe. References were made in the “Resource efficiency” strategy launched by the European Commission and a plea for a more consistent approach between water and energy was made in the European Environment Agency report “Towards a more efficient use of water resources in Europe”. It is now time to act and adopt policy proposals to meet this goal.

This debate aims at sharing expertise and knowledge about this important interconnection and at launching a reflection on integrated policy measures that would address these concerns.

The Power-Water nexus demonstrates that environmental sustainability can significantly enable Europe’s economic recovery.