Water scarcity affects 2.7 billion people worldwide for at least a month each year and in the same way that each of us has a carbon footprint, Professor Arjen Hoekstra of the University of Twente in the Netherlands posits that every person also has a “water footprint”. Our water footprint is calculated by counting the amount of fresh water that we each use daily and the amount of water required to produce the goods and services that we
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water scarcity
Eighty Percent of Ecosystems Vulnerable to Climate Change, Study Finds
written by Yale Environment 360
Climate change could significantly transform up to 86 percent of the planet’s land ecosystems under worst-case global warming scenarios, according to researchers at Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. That estimate is based on a 4 to 5 degree C temperature increase by the year 2100 — a scenario that is plausible given many
Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest military contractors, has developed a process that company officials say significantly reduces the amount of energy needed to desalinate water, an innovation that could help communities worldwide tackle the growing threat of water scarcity.
A new report predicts that global investment in water desalination projects will triple over a five-year period from 2011 to 2016, driven by improvements in technology and a surge in companies entering the sector.
According to Global Water Intelligence, investments in desalination plant installations will grow from $5
About 2.4 billion people live in water-stressed countries, according to a report by the Pacific Institute. Water demand in the next two decades will double in India to 1.5 trillion cubic meters and rise 32% in China to 818 billion cubic meters, according to the 2030 Water Resources Group. China is home to
Ten global energy and climate “megaforces” are doubling the costs of environmental impacts on businesses every 14 years, currently equal 40 percent of average profits, and could significantly affect corporate growth by 2030, says KPMG International.
This rapid acceleration of external environmental
Building on the success of an energetic premier conference held last year in Austin, this year’s Cleanovation again promised an interesting dynamic, where Israeli cleantech startups travel to Texas to pitch for investment from a community of experienced energy-sector investors.
Solutions to environmental challenges are often laden with paradoxes. Let’s take the case of desalination of sea water to make potable water. It’s becoming more common in some parts of the world, including the Mediterranean region and Australia. But there’s a catch: it’s energy-intensive, therefore carbon
Amongst the many oft-repeated arguments against wind power — that it is intermittent, unreliable, expensive, noisy, dangerous to wildlife, or aesthetically unappealing — one argument you will not hear from wind power detractors is that wind uses too much water. Why? Because wind uses a fraction of the water used by every other electrical
Water is the new oil. The $425 billion global water sector remains at the forefront of industrial, geopolitical, and social agendas because of a growing supply/demand imbalance and trends in water scarcity, quality, and safety issues. Only 3% of the world’s water is freshwater available to humans and the environment, and water scarcity is a growing problem. By 2025, it is