Water Sustainability
1,200 sustainability experts worldwide weigh in on the looming challenge of water scarcity - and the major shifts in policy, business models and regulation it will bring about. And a worldwide poll of 15,000 finds that water scarcity and water pollution are the top environmental concerns in the world - which makes sense since water is not only tangible, but existentially important.
Business Week, April 26 - May 2, 2010 edition: "Drought in China Hits the Energy Sector"
The attached article summarizes the world's water situation - and what we need to start doing today to make that situation sustainable.
Business Week, April 26 - May 2, 2010 edition: "Drought in China Hits the Energy Sector"
"It's the worst drought to hit China in a century. In five southwestern provinces, severe rain shortages since October have left 25 million people and 16 million livestock without adequate drinking water and damaged 19 million acres of crops... Rivers are running dry, and reservoirs stand half-empty. The drought highlights the risks of China's growing dependence on hydro-electric power. China is the world's biggest producer of hydropower, which supplies some 15% of the country's electricity. Beijing plans to almost double output, to 300 gigawatts of installed capacity, by 2020... [But] low water levels are already causing brownouts... If the drought is prolonged, China may have to increase its reliance on coal, which still supplies about 80% of its electricity - and produces much of its air pollution. "The southwest drought will drive demand for coal [and] increase prices," predicts Laby Wu, chief financial officer of Shanxi-based Puda Coal."
Comments