The water-energy nexus: connecting water saving, energy efficiency and the reduction of emissions.

Water and energy are probably two of the most essential, interlinked, and precious resources in our daily lives. In our current climate and energy crisis, unleashing the potential of the water-energy nexus will drive substantial water and energy savings, reducing emissions and increase the competitiveness of European industry, says Monica Frassoni in the Spring 2023 issue of European Energy Innovation Magazine.

The great thing is that we already have the technologies and solutions to simultaneously save water and energy.  A strong policy framework is needed to incentivise water and energy efficiency and enable the deployment at scale of these solutions. The water-energy nexus should be better reflected in legislation, and lawmakers should fully consider the benefits stemming from water efficiency as a key driver to delivering energy savings.  

 

Read the full article byMonica Frassoni in European Energy Innovation Magazine. 

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A legislative framework supportive of the water-energy nexus: exploiting synergies between water & energy savings, 22 Sept 2022

On 22 September 2022, 12:00 – 13:30pm (CET) as part of the Extended Programme of European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) hosted an online conference on the water-energy nexus to discuss how to design the best policy framework across the EED, UWWTD and IED.

The strong interdependencies that exist between energy and water are no longer to be demonstrated. Abstracting, distributing, heating, cooling or treating water requires huge amounts of energy while water is also used heavily in energy production and across many industrial processes.

The ongoing policy developments to unleash the potential of the water-energy nexus show progress is in the making but requires strong alignment between energy and water legislations. The panel will discuss how to ensure coherence across the EED, UWWTD and IED.

Moderator:

  • Agnese Danelon, Director, Government Relations Europe, Ecolab

Speakers:

  • Vania Paccagnan, Senior Global Policy Manager, Water at CDP Europe
  • Veronica Manfredi, DG ENVI, European Commission
  • AbdelKader Meroufel, WE Water Distribution infrastructure & Energy WG leader, Water Europe
  • Tania Pentcheva, Senior Government and Industry Relations, Xylem
  • Monica Frassoni, President, European Alliance to Save Energy

Watch the full session here

View full agenda here

 

 

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The water-energy nexus: an untapped resource for major energy savings

Water requires energy. When we move it, clean it, heat it and cool it—energy moves with it. These two precious resources come together seamlessly in our daily lives, but they can also jointly create significant energy savings. Unleashing the potential of the water-energy nexus will drive substantial energy savings to repower the EU while drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, says Hayati Yarkadas at Xylem Europe on Foresight Climate & Energy ahead of the first edition of the European Energy Efficiency Day. 

The water-energy nexus refers to the link between energy use in water management and water use in energy production. Water and wastewater infrastructure account for 3.7% of the global electricity consumption. The good news is that any efficiency gains in one benefits the other.

And by using high-efficiency technologies, we can cut half of that energy consumption at zero or negative cost. This would be equivalent to removing 9.2 million fossil-fuelled cars per year and it would free up $40 billion to invest in other types of water infrastructure.

The nexus also holds the potential to generate large-scale energy and water savings across sectors and drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—an important element to address the impending climate change crisis.

We must move to an energy-neutral wastewater sector to achieve climate neutrality in Europe.

 

Read the full article here

More information on Energy Efficiency Day here & Register here.

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Unleash the potential of the water-energy nexus in the energy efficiency directive

The European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) and Water Europe (WE), call on the European Parliament and the Member States to unleash the potential of the Water-Energy nexus in the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).  

The nexus holds the potential to generate large-scale energy and water savings across sectors and reduce Green House Gases (GHG) emissions. Saving water saves energy and saving energy saves water.  

Our joint declaration supports policy makers with 11 recommendations on how to exploit these synergies and achieve greater water, resource and energy efficiencies 

  1. Secure that the energy efficiency first (EE1) principle applies across sectors and all water cycles and that the quality of water used is fit for purpose.  
  2. Create an enabling framework that ensure the delivery of all the benefits deriving from water efficiency.  
  3. Promote water reuse to generate energy savings in water management.  
  4. Facilitate interoperability and easy integration to the energy grid of energy generated by wastewater treatment plants.  
  5. Introduce a mandatory system of assessment for both energy and water usage in industry, water supply systems, wastewater network and treatment plants.  
  6. Provide meaningful incentives to ensure that water suppliers reduce water leakage levels, particularly for large and very large water suppliers.  
  7. Mandate the introduction of green infrastructure and adapt grey infrastructures in cities to reduce the amount of storm water being directly released into wastewater treatment plants.  
  8. Provide incentives to the use of digital technologies and real-time data analytics across water cycles.  
  9. Foster transparency and free-flow of data across EU on water quality and availability, water leakages, system capacity and energy use for water and waste water infrastructure and performance.  
  10. Develop communication standards for data sharing across the water cycle and between national and regional entities.  
  11. Introduce requirements and incentives in the EED for the ICT sector to monitor their energy and water consumption. 

Read the full declaration and recommendations here

 

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How to fully exploit the potential of the water-energy nexus for energy efficiency

On the 27th of October EU-ASE hosted an online policy session “Fully exploiting the water-energy nexus” organised together with Water Europe at the European Sustainable Energy Week 2021.

EU-ASE President Monica Frassoni moderated the panel composed of Claudia Canevari (DG Ener), MEP Eleonora Evi (European Parliament), Oriana Romano (OECD) and Durk Krol (Water Europe). The speakers discussed how the water sector and water smart-management can lead to energy savings across industrial, commercial and residential water cycles. They also debated the data and methodologies to calculate such savings, with a view to leveraging Art 7 of the Energy Efficiency Directive.

The recording of the event is available here.
The slides used during the presentation can be found here.

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