Solutions to the water energy nexus remain elusive
Source: Guardian sustainable business
Volkswagen and Coca-Cola among businesses acting on interconnected issues of water
and energy, but the voice of power companies and energy producers is largely absent
福斯汽車公司和可口可樂之間的業務影響水和能源相互關聯的問題，但電力公司和能源
生產商的聲音大部分缺席 。
A section of Lake Oroville, California. The drought-stricken state uses around a fifth of its
electricity for water-related purposes.
加州奧羅維爾湖區。旱災情況大約使用1/5的電力在與水有關的用途。
Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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About this content Giulio Boccaletti
Wednesday 10 September 2014 13.09 BST
Solutions to the water energy nexus – the main topic of last week’s WorldWater Week
conference in Stockholm – remain elusive. The basic idea is simple enough: water is
energy intensive, and energy is water intensive, so addressing both in an integrated way
should lead to innovative, more efficient solutions.
上週在斯德哥爾摩的WorldWater週會議的主要議題 - 解決水能源關係 - 仍然是難以捉摸的。
其基本思想很簡單：水資源是能源密集型，能源是水資源密集型的，所以關注在這兩點上
相互協調的方式應有助於創新，更有效的解決方案來滿足。
As an example, California, the drought-stricken US state, uses around a fifth of its electricity
for water-related processes. But even as businesses and utilities aim to use each resource
more efficiently, the solutions continue to be siloed and resource-specific.
作為一個例子，加州，美國旱災州，使用五分之一左右的電力在水能源相關進程。但是，
即使企業和公用事業旨在更有效地使用每個資源，解決方案仍繼續被孤立和特定資源。
It does not help that the economics of supply for water and energy are profoundly different.
The latter is typically a cash-positive business, where energy prices are high, reflecting
significant opportunity costs that are responsive to market dynamics. The former is a much
more capital-intensive business, akin to traditional infrastructure such as roads and airports.
Capital expenditures drive the economics in water services, and prices – often heavily
regulated – are rarely designed to fully recover the cost of delivery.
對水的經濟供給它並沒有幫助，和能源是完全不同的。後者是典型的現金建設性業務，其中
能源價格高昂，反映市場動態顯著的機會成本是易受影響的。前者更是一個資本密集型業務，
類似於傳統的基礎設施，如公路和機場。資本支出帶動水服務和價格的經濟 - 往往受到嚴格監
管 - 很少被設計為完全彌補運送成本。
Under these conditions, it is difficult to see how an integrated solution could emerge that is
significantly different to what each sector by itself would pursue. This was obvious at the
conference, where the voice of power companies and energy producers was largely absent.
在這些條件下，即每個部門本身顯著不同也難以見到相互協調的解決方案出現以使繼續進行。
在這次會議上是顯而易見的，電力公司和能源生產商的聲音基本上不存在。
But the week also showed that the integration of these issues is happening outside the energy
and water sectors. In fact, the water energy nexus has been brought to the forefront of discussion
largely by user companies.
但本週也表明，這些問題的整合正發生在能源和水部門之外。事實上，水能源關係已被用戶
的公司提到前端大量討論。
Some companies in the automotive industry, for example, are examining ways to manage thei
r inputs consumption amid more limited natural resources. Manufacturing cars takes a significant amount of energy and water (for cooling production equipment). Volkswagen’s Think Blue factory programme aims to reduce energy and water consumption throughout its vehicle production process. Volkswagen is taking inventory of its energy sources, and moving toward more sustainable options, such as solar and geothermal. Additionally, the company has found options to reduce water consumption used to cool vehicle production equipment, but is also finding ways to improve water efficiency upstream in its manufacturing process where more than 90% of the water consumption occurs.
有些公司在汽車行業，例如，正在研究方法來管理他們的消費投入中更多限制的自然資源。製造
汽車需要顯著大量的能源和水（用於冷卻生產設備）。福斯汽車公司的Think Blue工廠計劃旨在
整個汽車生產過程中減少能源和水資源的消耗。福斯汽車正在整理其能源來源庫存，並頃向使用
可持續的選項，如太陽能和地熱能。此外，該公司已經找到可減少用於冷卻車輛的生產設備用水量
的選項，但也要想辦法提高上游在其製造過程中超過90％的用水量發生的用水效率。
The same can be said for environmental conservation strategies often pursued by companies which
rely on local communities for energy and water and wish to lessen their regional footprint. In these instances, the solutions are integrated by virtue of their focus on location.Coca-Cola for example, has just announced it will be joining the Latin American Water Funds Partnership to promote water security in Latin America and the Caribbean.
同樣可以說，公司對於環境的保護策略追求往往依賴於當地社區的能源和水資源，並希望減少
他們的足跡區域。在這種情況下，該解決方案憑藉其專注於區域. 例如可口樂，剛剛宣布將
加入拉美水資源基金合作，以促進在拉丁美洲和加勒比地區水資源的安全。
The vision is to replenish 6.9m cubic metres of water used in productive processes - which are themselves energy intensive processes - and to strengthen water security by investing $7.4m in conservation actions at the watershed level. This replenishment will reduce Coca-Cola’s impact
on local water supplies by freeing up water for other uses, including energy production.
願景是在生產過程中添補 6.9百萬立方用水- 這是耗能過程本身所用 - 並藉投資$7.4百萬的保護
行動在流域層面加強水安全通過。該增資釋放水用於其他用途，包括能源生產，將減少可口可
樂對當地供水衝擊的影響。
Integrated strategies to address water and energy challenges can remedy difficult negotiations
with local entities. By looking at the needs of all stakeholders in the region – utilities, businesses, communities and environmental – plans can be created that address current and future needs,
without sacrificing the environmental health of the region.
協調具體戰略，以解決水和能源的挑戰以彌補與當地實體艱難的談判。通過確查該地區的所有
利益相關者的需求 - 公用事業，企業，社區和環境 - 在不犧牲本地區的環境衛生，計劃可以創
建滿足當前和未來的需求。
Additionally, integrated strategies that are comprehensive in scope often require adopting
longer-term outlooks to match underlying changes such as those brought by climate change.
In turn, this encourages governments and utilities to look at supply patterns over longer timescales
and base their planning on those trends.
此外，協調的策略是廣泛規模往往需要採取更長遠的前景，以滿足如氣候變化帶來的潛在變化，
。逐次的，這也鼓勵政府和公用事業來看待供應模組在較長的時標區間和他們對這些趨勢的計
畫基礎。
The energy water nexus theme discussed at World Water Week underscores the fact that the
potential exists for taking on a new, holistic approach to managing limited natural resources. Companies, governments and utilities alike realise that these water and energy problems are connected. It’s time to shift the focus to finding more efficient, integrated solutions to these
challenges.
在世界水源週討論的能量水資源關係的主題強調潛在存在採取一種新的，全面的方法來管理
有限自然資源的事實。企業，政府和公用事業都意識到，這些水和能源問題的相互連結。
現在將焦點轉移到尋找更高效，協調綜合的解決方案來應對這些挑戰的時候。
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