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Page added on March 21, 2014
World faces ‘water-energy’ crisis
Surging populations and economies in the developing world will cause a double crunch in demand for water and energy in the coming decades, the UN said Friday.
In a report published on the eve of World Water Day, it said the cravings for clean water and electricity were intertwined and could badly strain Earth’s limited resources.
“Demand for freshwater and energy will continue to increase over the coming decades to meet the needs of growing populations and economies, changing lifestyles and evolving consumption patterns, greatly amplifying existing pressures on limited natural resources and on ecosystems,” the report said.
Already, 768 million people do not have access to a safe, reliable source of water, 2.5 billion do not have decent sanitation and more than 1.3 billion do not have mains electricity.
About 20 percent of the world’s aquifers today are depleted, according to the report.
Agriculture accounts for more than two-thirds of water use.
The World Water Development Report, the fifth in the series by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), is an overview collated from data from scientific studies and investigations by agencies.
It said ever more freshwater will be needed for farming, construction, drinking, cooking, washing and sewerage, but also for energy production — 90 percent of which uses water-intensive techniques today.
The report gave this snapshot of the future:
– Global water demand is likely to increase by 55 percent by 2050.
– By then, more than 40 percent of the world’s population will be living in areas of “severe” water stress, many of them in the broad swathe of land from North Africa and the Middle East to western South Asia.
– Asia will be the biggest hotspot for bust-ups over water extraction, where water sources straddle national borders. “Areas of conflict include the Aral Sea and the Ganges-Brahmaputra River, Indus River and Mekong River basins,” said the report.
– Global energy demand is expected to grow by more than a third by 2035, with China, India and Middle Eastern countries accounting for 60 percent of the increase.
– In 2010, energy production gobbled up 66 billion cubic metres (2,300 billion cu. feet) of fresh water — more than the average annual flow of the River Nile in Egypt.
By 2035, this consumption could rise by 85 percent, driven by power plant cooling systems that work with water.
– Thirsty energy –
Shale deposits and tar sands, driving an energy boom in North America, are especially hefty in their demands for water to force out the precious gas and oil, the report said.
Even so, “they are outstripped by far by biofuels,” said researcher Richard Connor, who headed the study.
Renewable sources like solar and wind energy that use far less water are gaining ground, and accounted for about a fifth of global electricity output in 2011, the report said.
But they are unlikely to expand this share significantly if fossil fuels continue receiving the bulk of subsidies, it said.
Oil, gas and coal had subsidies of $523 billion (376 billion euros) in 2011, nearly 30 percent more than in 2010, compared to $88 billion for renewables, the report said, citing International Energy Agency (IEA) figures.
Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean have plenty of potential for hydro-energy, which reuses the precious resource, it added.
Hydro-electric dams have been extremely controversial. Big projects deliver gigawatts of power but critics say they are ecologically damaging and prone to massive cost overruns.
The review called for a global effort in efficiency gains, pointing the finger at the arid countries of the Middle East where between 15 and 60 percent of water is wasted through leaks or evaporation even before the consumer opens the tap.
The report also called for smart choices in allocating the trillions of dollars likely to be invested in water and energy infrastructure over the next two decades.
14 Comments on "World faces ‘water-energy’ crisis"
bobinget on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 3:42 pm
Fossil fuel extractions can use recycled waste water.
If Saudis are able to use sea water in water-flooding successfully we could recycle animal and human waste.
Solar cells are marching on efficiency rates higher then current commercial peaks of 21/22%.
As earth’s surface is mostly water, desalination seems the only practical solution.
Materials like grapheme are making both solar PV and economical filtration entirely feasible.
If interested in commercial uses for the material;
http://www.graphenetracker.com/tag/graphene-patent/
Either we (humans) embark on massive infrastructure
programs at once, all dire predictions will materialize. Sadly, the only growth industry in the world at large are armaments.
When sanctions were placed on Putin’s Russia, so called ‘defense’ industries were left untouched. Obviously we as a species are determined to go down fighting. Not combatting water or food shortages resulting from
AGW but each others egos.
Northwest Resident on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 4:46 pm
“Global water demand is likely to increase by 55 percent by 2050.”
Unless, of course, something happens to dramatically reduce the population before 2050 and stop BAU in its tracks.
Something like not enough oil to sustain continued population growth through 2050 (or even through 2035 or 2025), for example.
Given the fragility and duct-taped condition of today’s global economy, and considering that all oil extraction depends upon that global economy, and also including the fact that even if the global economy manages to limp along we are still burning up the last viable oil reserves at an ever increasing rate, I don’t think any projections past 2020 are realistic at all. Major events are bound to occur prior to 2020 that will refactor all projections on population growth, water/electricity usage — and everything else.
Davey on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 5:22 pm
When I hear water use rising 55% by 2050. That right there says immediately limits of growth “Now”. Someone should send these poor UN folks and others to school to eliminate this practice of projecting 20, 30, or 50 years in the future then use a spreadsheet formula to solve for a current trend trending into the future. It bothers me. I instantly think this article sucks and I am through reading it. We as humans live in the future but we plan short term. Now that to me is F’D up. We should be living in the moment and planning for the long term future, sorry, done preaching.
GregT on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 5:25 pm
“World faces ‘water-energy’ crisis”
Uh no, the world has as much water and energy as it has always ‘needed’. What the world really faces, is a parasitic infection. Just like a dog has fleas, the world has ‘human beings’.
zaphod42 on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 5:47 pm
N/R: You said, “Major events are bound to occur prior to 2020 that will refactor all projections on population growth, water/electricity usage — and everything else.”
Consider – I first signed up at theoildrum.com 6 years – 16 months ago. I expected some major events by now. Results: nada.
Sure, there could be some ‘major’ happenings; I doubt though that the projections by UNESCO as to water use by 2050 would be materially off, though. Unless of course the Eastern Antarctic Ice Sheet melts, or some such event, even what we would consider a major economic disruption would not impact the high growth underdeveloped regions where population growth will likely continue unabated.
Craig
Northwest Resident on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 6:07 pm
zaphod42 — Some would argue that in the last six years, basically since 2008, the United States alone has accumulated an unsustainable level of debt — total public debt of $17.226 trillion or over 100% GDP according to Wikipedia. And that is in just the USA. Global debt has mushroomed to much greater than that, and the real amount of debt is not even known. That debt has compensated for growth in an economy that must grow, or die. And some would argue that the need for all that “funny money” debt is precisely due to the lack of oil surplus, without which, the economy cannot grow.
I would call that much greater than “nada”.
Without QE and all the many trillions of debt pumping up the economy, we would have collapsed long ago — about six years ago to be exact. The major events that you and many others were expecting six years ago have merely been postponed.
OK, maybe “they” can continue pumping trillions of never-able-to-be-repaid funny money into the economy and keep us going until 2050. Not many people who are aware of the global economic problems believe that we will make it out of this year without a major market correction, much less until 2050. Oil companies are divesting themselves of oil fields, recognizing that it is a no-win situation. The amount of energy required to continue frac’ing operations is cost-prohibitive, but with zero interest rates and lots of QE money, they have been able to obscure that fact. How much longer can the charade continue?
PapaSmurf on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 7:59 pm
“What the world really faces, is a parasitic infection. Just like a dog has fleas, the world has ‘human beings’.”
=========================
That is an interesting form of self loathing.
Humans are natural to our environment just like everything else living here. Everything we do and build is natural to our environment, even taken to an extreme limit. A nuclear power plant is “natural”, because we built it.
If you think humans are a virus, let me do you a favor and put a bullet through your skull for you.
Davey on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 8:07 pm
Yea poop, I think that way. Extinction is part of evolution and we humans are working diligently at extinction so naturally we are Mother Natures tool of evolution through extinction. I can’t argue with you on that one. Damn your brilliant poop
Northwest Resident on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 8:22 pm
Some people know a lot more about self-loathing than others due to intimate personal experience, and we seem to have one of those experts popping in to post here every once in a while. “It” feels dirty being here by it’s own often stated self-admission, but yet it repeatedly returns to once again revel in the dirtiness and to accuse others of self-loathing when in fact it is THAT poster itself that is the only one doing the self-loathing.
Sometimes, I guess some people are unlucky enough to end up with a crazy uncle who just sits in the corner, cursing and muttering under his breath, twitching radically, and then suddenly standing up to emit a burst of venomous vile and nonsense before sitting down to repeat the cycle. Manic depression is a good guess. Whatever insanity drives that individual, here we are, stuck with the crazy uncle. The internet was supposed to be a wonderful tool that connected us to the world, and it did, we just got a little more than we bargained for.
J-Gav on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 8:32 pm
NW – “The duct-taped condition of the global economy.” That’s a nice way of putting it, even if it’s still in the ‘understatement’ category. I agree – projecting anything beyond 2025 hardly makes any sense. The coming decade is likely to change things beyond most people’s imagination. Although there’s still a chance for some of those changes to be for the better, for the time being, “Oh mother, thangs ain’t lookin’ good,” as somebody recently sang.
Davey on Fri, 21st Mar 2014 9:06 pm
Well put Gav!
Makati1 on Sat, 22nd Mar 2014 12:55 am
Three days without water.
Nuff said…
Kenz300 on Sat, 22nd Mar 2014 3:26 am
Endless population growth is not sustainable……….
Too many people and too few resources.
FriedrichKling on Sat, 22nd Mar 2014 3:47 am
Papa-
You may want to put a bullet through my skull. I loathe that mankind is responsible for the current 6th great extinction event. We are committing genocide against the natural world every day. Incredibly we have been endowed with the capacity to understand our actions, yet we move closer and closer to the abyss with each passing day.