230
from watersheds as small as a Finger Lake to those as large as the Chesapeake Bay.
Though legislation aimed at addressing nutrient runoff and HABs issue in New York
has not yet been framed specifically using the language of the nexus, successful
mitigation strategies will require mobilization of a variety of actors—state and local
officials, farmers, lakefront property owners, academics, and extension agents—
able to recognize and address the problem as a food, energy, and water problem
simultaneously.
Watershed managers can help coordinate planning throughout the watershed,
engaging critical stakeholders including farmers, landowners, industries, and
municipalities. These professionals can spearhead diverse initiatives such as reducing stormwater flows, updating municipal codes to promote watershed- friendly
practices, and seeking funding for development and implementation of formal
watershed management plans. Particularly in areas where there is no dominant
municipal user in a watershed, money, and incentives to promote the reduction in
pollution, watershed managers can be critical to improving water quality and mitigating negative impacts of energy and food production activities.
8.3.2 Energy
Thermoelectric power plants fueled by coal, natural gas, biomass, or uranium provide roughly 80% of US electricity. As Peer and Sanders point out, many new thermal power plants rely on groundwater for cooling, a situation that risks stressing
underground aquifers. To the extent, those new power plants fueled by natural gas
instead of coal, the cooling water required for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity
generated will be lower. Unfortunately, much of the new thermoelectric power plant
capacity is being developed in states whose freshwater resources are already under
stress, like Texas and California.
Although demand for cooling water may be peaking, efficiencies in water use
could be offset by increased demand for water in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. This would be especially true if a price or tax on carbon
emissions pushed plant operators to implement CCS rather than close coal-fired
plants. Moreover, as power plants rely increasingly on groundwater resources for
cooling water, state regulators in dry states may look to the Safe Drinking Water Act
for grounds to limit those withdrawals. Scarcer water supplies and tighter policies
may well spur continued advances in alternative cooling strategies for thermoelectric
power plants in the coming decades (Peer and Sanders 2018, p. 620).
Vermont’s Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, for instance, addresses the role of agricultural land in providing opportunities for increasing energy efficiency and providing space for renewable energy installations. Such space may turn out to be a vital
ingredient to the success of the state’s renewable energy future. Vermont’s comprehensive energy plan calls for 90% renewable energy across all sectors by 2050, not
including the resurrection of the storied Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which
was shut down in 2014.
B. Kinne and D. Magee
from watersheds as small as a Finger Lake to those as large as the Chesapeake Bay.
Though legislation aimed at addressing nutrient runoff and HABs issue in New York
has not yet been framed specifically using the language of the nexus, successful
mitigation strategies will require mobilization of a variety of actors—state and local
officials, farmers, lakefront property owners, academics, and extension agents—
able to recognize and address the problem as a food, energy, and water problem
simultaneously.
Watershed managers can help coordinate planning throughout the watershed,
engaging critical stakeholders including farmers, landowners, industries, and
municipalities. These professionals can spearhead diverse initiatives such as reducing stormwater flows, updating municipal codes to promote watershed- friendly
practices, and seeking funding for development and implementation of formal
watershed management plans. Particularly in areas where there is no dominant
municipal user in a watershed, money, and incentives to promote the reduction in
pollution, watershed managers can be critical to improving water quality and mitigating negative impacts of energy and food production activities.
8.3.2 Energy
Thermoelectric power plants fueled by coal, natural gas, biomass, or uranium provide roughly 80% of US electricity. As Peer and Sanders point out, many new thermal power plants rely on groundwater for cooling, a situation that risks stressing
underground aquifers. To the extent, those new power plants fueled by natural gas
instead of coal, the cooling water required for each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity
generated will be lower. Unfortunately, much of the new thermoelectric power plant
capacity is being developed in states whose freshwater resources are already under
stress, like Texas and California.
Although demand for cooling water may be peaking, efficiencies in water use
could be offset by increased demand for water in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. This would be especially true if a price or tax on carbon
emissions pushed plant operators to implement CCS rather than close coal-fired
plants. Moreover, as power plants rely increasingly on groundwater resources for
cooling water, state regulators in dry states may look to the Safe Drinking Water Act
for grounds to limit those withdrawals. Scarcer water supplies and tighter policies
may well spur continued advances in alternative cooling strategies for thermoelectric
power plants in the coming decades (Peer and Sanders 2018, p. 620).
Vermont’s Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, for instance, addresses the role of agricultural land in providing opportunities for increasing energy efficiency and providing space for renewable energy installations. Such space may turn out to be a vital
ingredient to the success of the state’s renewable energy future. Vermont’s comprehensive energy plan calls for 90% renewable energy across all sectors by 2050, not
including the resurrection of the storied Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which
was shut down in 2014.
B. Kinne and D. Magee