71st SWCS International Annual Conference July 24-27, 2016 Louisville, KY

1. Water and Energy Security
Can We Satisfy the Need for Both?
Presentation to
The Grand Challenge – Water, Food and
Environmental Security
Soil and Water Conservation Society and Soil Science Society of America
Dr. Allan R. Hoffman
July 25, 2016

2. Outline of Presentation
• A bit of background
• The water‐energy conundrum
• Water and energy contexts
• Addressing the conundrum
• A word on fracking
• A word on desalination
• Research needs
• Concluding thoughts

3. A bit of background
How did a low temperature solid‐state physicist get into water
issues?
• The energy path
• The Middle East path

4. A bit more background
• Water and energy are as basic as it gets. Both are critical to
• sustainable economic development
• poverty reduction
• national security
• Growing understanding that water and energy issues are
inseparable (water‐energy nexus)
• Goals often in conflict for increasing clean water and
energy supplies

5. What is the conundrum?
• Can we satisfy increasing demands for both as
populations and expectations for improved human
welfare increase?
• Are there necessary tradeoffs?
What is the context for trying to address these
difficult questions?

6. The Water Context
• “Water is life” is a truism – if you don’t have water you die
• There are no substitutes for water (unlike energy)
• it is the most valuable commodity on earth
• the struggle to control water resources has shaped human political
and economic history
• Earth is a water‐rich planet (300 million trillion gallons)
• this amount has been constant for millions and even billions of years
• So why is there a problem with water supply?
6

7. The Water Problem
• 96% is found in the oceans
• it is salty (35,000 ppm on average)
• potable water is 500‐1,000 ppm
• Most of the remaining 4% (fresh water) is not available for our use
• some tied up in icecaps and glaciers (a receding problem)
• some in water vapor in the atmosphere
• Only 0.3% in groundwater, lakes and rivers, much of which is inaccessible
• Net result ‐ mankind makes productive use of less than 1% of our global water resources
 Fresh water is not distributed uniformly around the globe
 Global climate change will change precipitation patterns
7

8. More Water Facts
• Current global demand for fresh is about 1,000 trillion gallons
• has tripled in past 50 years; now 30% of accessible supply
• agriculture accounts for 75% of global water consumption
• under business as usual, fraction could reach 70% by 2025
• Cooling of thermal power plants biggest water use in U.S. (fresh + saline)
• Over‐pumping of ground water already exceeds natural replenishment by 4%
• U.S., China, India, ….
• Major health implications of too little fresh water
• Minimum amount to meet basic needs: 250,000 gallons per capita per year
• 166 million in 18 countries below that level in 1995
• That number could reach 1.7 billion in 39 countries by 2050
• Serious gender implications of too little fresh water
• ‘feminization of poverty”
8

9. The Energy Context
• Modern societies provide high levels of energy‐dependent services
• Rapid electrification and energy demand growth in 20th century
• pattern continuing in 21st century
• Projections (IEA, EC, WEC, EIA ,….) for next few decades all draw same general conclusions
• Global demand will grow significantly, mostly in developing world
• fossil fuels remain dominant
• Natural gas grows fastest
• Oil still largest fuel source
• Nuclear power grows, but slowly
• Global GHG emissions grow more rapidly than supply
• Use of renewables grows rapidly, but will not displace fossil fuels
9

10. Energy Context (continued)
• These projections mask four critical issues:
• When will world oil production peak?
• How urgent is it to reduce growth in global energy demand and GHG emissions?
• How vulnerable to disruption is our energy infrastructure?
• How quickly can renewable and advanced nuclear technologies be brought on line
to replace fossil fuels?
10

11. The Linkages Between Water and Energy
• Energy is needed to:
• extract water from underground aquifers
• transport water through canals and pipes
• manage and treat impaired water for reuse, and
• desalinate brackish and sea water to provide new fresh water supplies.
• Many forms of energy production and use depend on the availability of water:
• hydropower
• cooling of thermal power plants
• fossil fuel production and processing
• biofuels
• carbon capture and sequestration
• hydrogen economy
11

12. Indirect Linkages
• Energy production and use can lead to contamination of underground and surface water
supplies
• If competing water uses limit use of waterways for transport of goods, rail and truck will
require more energy to move those goods
• competition for water resources is already limiting licensing and operation of power
plants, and
• climate change has the potential to disrupt the hydrological cycle and impact global
water resources long before other impacts are felt
12

13. Addressing the Conundrum
• Useful starting points:
• we do not value energy per se , we value the services (heating, cooling, lighting, communication,
transportation, manufacturing) that energy makes possible
• This implies that wise use of our energy resources must be the first priority of a national energy policy
• these statements apply equally well to water
• Recognize that on a global basis, energy, like water, is not in short supply
• sun pours 6 million Quads of solar energy into earth’s atmosphere each year
• world currently uses less than 600 Quads annually
• considerable energy under our feet due to radioactive decay in earth’s core
• lots of fossil fuels still to be found and extracted
• fusion has the potential to supply unlimited amounts of energy
• What is in short supply?
• Energy and clean water that people can afford to buy
13

14. Some Thoughts on Fracking
• Hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) is the fracturing of rock by a pressurized liquid, usually water,
directed by horizontal drilling.
• Beginning in 1998, the technique has been widely used in the U.S. to release large quantities of
natural gas and oil trapped in non‐permeable shale deposits.
• Opposition to fracking arises mostly from concerns about high water demand and potential
environmental impacts, many of which make themselves felt in water resources.
• Where fracking is allowed there is a critical need to legislate and enforce regulations aimed at
reducing these potential impacts.

15. Some thoughts on Desalination
• Desalination (desalinization) is the removal of dissolved salts from salty (saline) water to
produce drinkable (potable) water
• Already important in providing clean water in several countries, it will become
increasingly important in the future, in both developing and developed countries, as
global fresh water demand grows.
• The most common type of desalination in use today is reverse osmosis (RO), which
requires electrically‐powered pressurization to force salty water through a membrane
that separates the salt from the water.
• Most RO systems today use fossil fuels to create the needed electricity . Future RO
systems are likely to use solar power in place of fossil fuels.

16. Water‐Energy Research Needs
• Reduce water use in agriculture
• Reduce energy demands and costs of desalination
• Reduce thermal power plant cooling requirements
• Develop improved technologies for water treatment and reuse
• Develop improved technologies for water decontamination
• R&D to better understand the water requirements of emerging energy technologies (biofuels, CSP, CCS, fracking,
tar sands, hydrogen economy)
• Understand the impact of GCC on spatial and temporal variability of water resources

17. Concluding Thoughts
• Water and energy are abundant and we will not run out of water or energy, but
we will undoubtedly have to pay more for both
• Water and energy issues are inextricably linked
• energy security is closely linked to water security
• delivery of water services is dependent on energy availability
• Achieving U.S. water and energy security will require a new partnership between
the federal government, which has primary responsibility for energy security, and
the states and local communities where water issues have historically been
addressed
17

18. Thank You
Dr. Allan R. Hoffman
U.S. Department of Energy (retired)
Tel: 703/437‐4332 (home)
571/581‐4120 (cell)
E‐mail: arh0531@gmail.com