Why Energy Use Is Really Water Use

Every time you turn on your kitchen sink or flush your toilet, your electricity meter should be running. And every time your electricity meter is moving, imagine a faucet somewhere pouring out water at full blast. Water and electricity – two resources we in the Western world tend to take for granted in our homes and offices and, really, everywhere – should be thought of as one and the same.

Energy is required to pump water across virtually any distances. And often, the energy needed to enable this water transport is itself largely created with huge quantities of water. The coal that provides 45 percent of the nation's energy is actually burnt to heat water into steam that turns turbines. This 2005 report [PDF] from the California Energy Commission found that water-related energy use accounts for 19 percent of the state's energy use. Pumping water from where it's abundant to where it's not takes a lot of energy, and is likely to take even more as time goes on.