The Green Economy and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
The Green Economy is low-carbon, efficient, and clean in production and by looking beyond the traditional model of economic growth, maximizes synergies across the water-energy-food nexus.
The traditional economic model of employing various types of capital, including human, technological, and natural, to produce goods and services has brought about many benefits including higher living standards and improved human well-being.
At the same time, economic growth has resulted in environmental degradation. In addition, the global economic model is confronted by a wide array of trends including rapid population growth, urbanization, increasing poverty, and inequality as well as climate change resulting in resource scarcity and social challenges.
In response, many organizations have called for the development of a green economy that improves human well-being and social equity and reduces environmental degradation.
The Green Economy
The Green Economy has three main objectives of improving resource-use efficiency (a green economy is one that is efficient in its use of energy, water, and other material inputs), ensuring ecosystem resilience (it also protects the natural environment, its ecosystems, and ecosystem flows), and enhancing social equity (it promotes human well-being and a fair burden sharing across societies).
The Water-Energy-Food Nexus
With rising demand for water, energy, and food, managing the water-energy-food nexus is a key aspect of developing the green economy as the nexus approach recognizes the need to use resources more efficiently while seeking policy coherence across the nexus sectors in support of green growth. However, the governance of water-energy-food sectors has generally remained separate with limited attention placed on the interactions that exist between them. The result has been narrowly focused actions that have failed to reduce nexus-wide pressures. Nonetheless, there are various locations around the world that are leading the development of innovative policies that create positive interdependencies and synergies across and between the nexus sectors while reducing trade-offs in the development of a green economy.
Water-efficient urban farms
Kansas City’s KC Grow: Water Access Program helps local groups and farmers access water for their urban gardens and farms. As part of the $100,000 program, smart grants are available to assess the amount of water required to sustain the garden or farm, evaluate water access options, connect the farm to local resources that best meet the garden’s or farm’s water needs, and help implement recommended water access strategies. Before small grants can be provided, a water audit is required which recommends ways to increase water access and affordability for the garden or farm. It will also provide soil improvement and conservation recommendations, best mulching practices, and water budget estimates.
Recovering energy from wastewater
At Melbourne Water’s Western Treatment Plant, which serves 1.6 million people in the central, northern, and western suburbs of Melbourne, sewage is considered more than a waste product, with the utility generating electricity by combusting biogas that is captured under covers that are placed over the sewage treatment lagoons. The Western Treatment Plant uses biogas to meet nearly all its electricity needs with 71,500-megawatt hours of renewable energy generated each year, which prevents 87,000 tons of carbon dioxide being emitted through the burning of fossil fuels. At times the treatment plant generates excess renewable energy which is exported to the electricity grid to offset usage at the utility’s other sites.
Free agriculture energy audits
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Agriculture Energy Audit Program offers free energy audits to help farmers identify opportunities to reduce energy costs. Farmers can choose between two types of energy audits depending on their needs. Comprehensive energy audits are detailed with farmers receiving an energy audit report with calculated evaluations of appropriate energy efficiency measures including simple payback. Targeted energy audits focus on specific systems or energy efficiency measures or renewable energy, with the farmer receiving a system-specific energy analysis.
The take-out
To grow the green economy, many locations are implementing innovative policies that enhance synergies across the water-energy-food nexus.
*Blue-Green Infrastructure LinkedIn group:https://www.linkedin.com/groups/10412555/
- *Circular Water Economy LinkedIn group:https://www.linkedin.com/groups/10416662/
