Page - 23 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

Chapter3 Exploring the linkage betweenwaterandenergy Whatseemsobviousuponreflection,buthasbeenlittlediscussed until fairly recently, is that there is an inextricable linkage betweenwater and energy. This linkage has been given a name, the water–energy nexus. It recognizes explicitly that making water available to consumers requires the use of energy to extract water from underground aquifers and move it through pipes and canals, to desalinate brackish water or seawater, to treat used water so that it can be recycled, and to disinfect contaminatedwater. At the same time it also recognizes thatmany formsof energy production and use depend on the availability of water, for example, hydropower sites where the kinetic energy of falling water is converted to rotary motion and electricity in a turbine generator. It includes the use of water to cool the thermal exhausts of steam-driven turbine generators, as in fossil fuel, nuclear, geothermal, and concentrating solar power plants. Water plays an important role in fossil fuel extraction via ©2019TheAuthor. This isanOpenAccessbookchapter distributedunder the termsof the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits copying and redistribution for non-commercial purposeswith noderivatives, provided theoriginalwork is properly cited (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). This does not affect the rights licensed or assigned from any third party in this book. The chapter is from the bookWater,Energy, andEnvironment:APrimer, AllanR.Hoffman (Author). doi: 10.2166/9781780409658_0023