The drought that ravaged much of the U.S. in 2012 shows no sign of letting up. Spring rains have eased concerns in the Southeast and in some areas of the Midwest, but other sections are not so lucky.
“The western half of the country is bad and will probably get even worse,” said Richard Heim, a drought monitor expert at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Keep reading →
Commodity derivatives trading in water?
It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds, and it may become part of the energy business soon. Keep reading →
Global demand for water is growing at an astonishing rate – possibly 40% higher than current demand – in the next 20 years. That means utilities will need to find the best ways to manage the finite resource they possibly can.
That need translates into a huge jump in smart water meter deployments, according to a report from Pike Research. The report, Smart Water Meters, says we can expect to see a global base of smart water meters using AMI technologies to hit almost 30 million by 2017, an astonishing increase over the 10.3 million in use in 2011. By the end of the forecast period, annual shipments are expected to be 3.3 million, with an annual market value of $476 million. Keep reading →
The upcoming World Energy Leadership Summit in Istanbul will be a good forum to “test the waters” on how global markets view competition in the energy sector, according to CME Group Chief Economist Blu Putnam.
Turkey is a good crossroads to discuss the future of cheaper, cleaner and more efficient energy development in the developing world even as growth challenges and policy limit the expansion of energy infrastructure in many developed countries, Putnam said in a recent interview with Breaking Energy. Keep reading →
Smart grid technology benefits everyone from utilities to consumers and a business case can be made for the large capital investment required to get us there.
That’s the message eMeter Co-Founder and CTO, Larsh Johnson gave Breaking Energy during a recent interview. Energy and infrastructure giant Siemens acquired eMeter in January 2012. Keep reading →
NASA and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), plus the State Department, NIKE, Inc. and other private-sector partners, have been collaborating on a unique venture that identifies and provides support for innovative ideas and technologies dealing with such global challenges as water resources, clean air, health care and energy. Led by Diane Powell of NASA, the program known as LAUNCH brings scientists, entrepreneurs and inventors to the Kennedy Space Center for intensive two-to-three-day forums to focus attention on their innovations and to help them accelerate the adoption of their breakthrough ideas.
As the world’s population rises, food and energy resources will both become scarcer commodities.
Some are hoping that the food and energy sectors can work together to maximize the world’s resources through smart grid technology, biomass technology like food waste-to-heat electrical generators, biogas and ethanol, and water efficiency technology that will allow both agriculture and power companies to access much-needed water. Keep reading →
Last summer a Halliburton executive did the unthinkable: He took a big ol’ swig of hydraulic fracturing fluid. No, he didn’t have a death wish. And yes, he appears to be doing just fine. He did it to prove a point: fracking fluid need not be toxic. What the exec drank was a new formulation of fracking fluid made with ingredients sourced from the food industry rather than the chemical industry. As public concern over the controversial practice of fracking mounts, Halliburton and a host of other companies are racing to fill a major void: finding a way of cracking rock to unlock oil and natural gas that is also environmentally benign. This article is a linkout only.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, the Earth’s seven billionth person was born today, a large milestone not only in number but in the effects it will have on our planet’s resources. If that person consumes water like an American, before leaving this earth, he or she will have used more than 4.3 million gallons of water, perhaps Earth’s most precious resource. Water has no alternatives; there is no substitute for its role in energy, agriculture and basic life necessities. It is as unique as it is indispensable.
As necessary as water is, this fuel remains taken for granted. While populations continue to expand and financial belts continue to tighten, political leaders and communities must become more engaged to find unique solutions for the continued reliability of water delivery. The coming decades will yield water crises in portions of the globe previously immune to such challenges. Government commitment has to be clear, like H2O itself. Keep reading →
Jared Anderson
Conway Irwin
Peter Gardett