Page - 27 - in Water, Energy, and Environment - A Primer

Breaking this link can be achieved in two ways: replacing electricity powered by fossil fuels with nuclear power, and facilitating the inevitable transition to a global energy system that, over time, will rely less on fossil fuels and more on renewable energy sources. These latter technologies – solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, biomass, ocean power – offer a large energy resource, reduced water requirements, the possibility of reduced energy costs (and their long-term stabilization), reduced market uncertainties, reduced international competition for energy resources, reduced greenhouse gases, enhanced job creation, and the ability to reduce energy imports and keep an increasing share of the payments for energy supplies in one’s country for domestic investment. Nuclear fission power offers some of these advantages (it is a large, non-CO2 emitting energy source), but faces several serious problems – safety, cost, radioactive waste storage, weapons proliferation– thatmust be addressed if it is to play an important role in our future energy system. The long-term hope for nuclear power is nuclear fusion, which involves the fusion of two hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) into the heavier element helium, with a mass loss that is converted to energy. The world’s oceans contain enough deuterated water (D2O) – roughly 1 part in 6000 – to supply endless amounts of energy. In addition, the radioactive waste problems associated with nuclear fusion are much less than those with nuclear fission.Both technologies are discussed inChapter 7. 3.5 THENEEDFORPARTNERSHIP Let me close this discussion with one further word on the emerging understanding of the close relationship betweenwater and energy. Until fairly recently most people in the energy community thought about water in limited ways – hydropower and coolingof power plant exhausts–whilemanypeople in the Exploring the linkagebetweenwaterandenergy 27