The energy-water nexus: managing the links between energy and water for a sustainable future.

By K. Hussey, J. Pittock. 2010

413 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Water and energy are each recognized as indispensable inputs to modern economies. And, in recent years, driven by the three imperatives of security of supply, sustainability, and economic efficiency, the energy and water sectors have undergone rapid reform. However, it is when water and energy rely on each other that the most complex challenges are posed for policymakers. Despite the links and the urgency in both sectors for security of supply, in existing policy frameworks, energy and water policies are developed largely in isolation from one another—a degree of policy fragmentation that is seeing erroneous developments in both sectors. Examples of the trade-offs between energy and water security include: the proliferation of desalination plants and interbasin transfers to deal with water scarcity; extensive groundwater pumping for water supplies; first- generation biofuels; the proliferation of hydropower plants; decentralized water supply solutions such as rainwater tanks; and even some forms of modern irrigation techniques. Drawing on case studies from Australia, Europe, and the United States, this Special Issue attempts to develop a comprehensive understanding of the links between energy and water, to identify where better-integrated policy and management strategies and solutions are needed or available, and to understand where barriers exist to achieve that integration. In this paper we draw out some of the themes emerging from the Special Issue, and, particularly, where insights might be valuable for policymakers, practitioners, and scientists across the many relevant domains.

Subfields: Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Pollution, Water Science and Technology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/401a8520933856e8b16fb04cc2c244d1b4d77237

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Citations in the corpus

Securitising Sustainability? Questioning the 'Water, Energy and Food-Security Nexus' (2015, background): “Nexus research can build on the prior works by many scholars worldwide (Hellegers et al., 2008; Hussey and Pittock, 2012).”
Tracing the water-energy-food nexus: description, theory and practice (2015, background): “…effective frameworks need to be put in place for policymakers and other stakeholders to collaborate and develop cross-sectoral plans and actions, the political will, new planning tools and funds for capacity building are not always readily available (Hussey and Pittock, 2012; Pittock et al. 2013).”
Climate change and the water–energy–food nexus: insights from policy and practice in Tanzania (2018, background): “…(Hussey & Pittock, 2012; Leck et al., 2015; Yumkella & Yillia, 2015), the WEF nexus promotes a systems perspective, emphasizing holistic and cross-sectoral approaches to decision making and planning (Cairns & Krzywoszynska, 2016; Hussey & Pittock, 2012; Leck et al., 2015; Yumkella & Yillia, 2015).”
The nexus approach to water–energy–food security: an option for adaptation to climate change (2016, background): “Although the discourse on this nexus has been gaining currency (Hoff, 2011; Hussey & Pittock, 2012; Marsh & Sharma, 2007), it is not yet clearly understood how the concept can be applied to ensure food, water, and energy security, although understanding the different interfaces in the food, water,…”
Understanding barriers to decision making in the UK energy-food-water nexus: The added value of interdisciplinary approaches (2016, background): “Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Science & Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/ locat e/e nvsci”
China's energy-water nexus – assessment of the energy sector's compliance with the “3 Red Lines” industrial water policy (2015, neutral): “M. Allwood), isolation from each other (Hussey and Pittock, 2012; Siddiqi et al., 2013).”
Managing the food, water, and energy nexus for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in South Asia (2016, background): “Food production requires water and energy; water extraction, treatment, and redistribution require energy; and energy production requires water (Bazilian et al., 2011; Hussey and Pittock, 2012).”
Energy–water nexus under energy mix scenarios using input–output and ecological network analyses (2019, methodology): “Five energy mix scenarios for China were set up based on the National Energy Planning and Global Low-Carbon Development Mitigation Planning scenarios (see Figure 1) [11, 12, 30].”
Food, water, and energy security in South Asia: A nexus perspective from the Hindu Kush Himalayan region☆ (2014, background): “…production and aims to systemize the interconnections to provide a framework for assessing the use of all resources and to manage trade-offs and synergies (Hellegers et al., 2008; Bazilian et al., 2011; Scott et al., 2011; Hermann et al., 2012; Hussey and Pittock, 2012; Sharma and Bazaz, 2012).”
The water-energy-food security nexus through the lenses of the value chain and the Institutional Analysis and Development frameworks. (2015, background): “This can be useful to study water-foodenergy inter-linkages (Hussey and Pittock, 2012), but is limited to a rather narrow and highly technical range of research questions; neglecting the very important role of institutionally mediated human agency.”