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Today is UN World Water Day, and it is
followed tomorrow by Earth Hour. As someone in the business of water, I
hope that business leaders, government planners and infrastructure
experts in Indonesia will think about water on Friday, about energy on
Saturday and then about both for the rest of the year.
Given the worldwide focus on these pressing environmental concerns, it is
important to note the inter-relationship of water and energy. Water is a
fuel, vital for business and every bit as critical to moving our economy
forward as energy.
Almost a quarter of the world’s limited water supply is already used by
industry, and industrial use of water in Indonesia will only grow as the
economy continues to develop.
A lot of consciousness around water use relates to direct use of water in
our homes.
Yet, only 12 percent of water is consumed domestically in Indonesia. The
remainder is used by agriculture and industry.
Efforts to extend the utility of each drop of water on the individual
level should be applauded, but, speaking as a business leader, I believe
there is an opportunity to make a difference by paying more attention to
water that we use for industry.
By looking at the supply chain and industry’s total water impacts in a
holistic manner, big gains, big savings, can be made by Indonesian
businesses in years to come.
Fortunately, boardroom attitudes to water are changing globally. Water is
serious business, especially if there’s too little (or too much). Many of
tomorrow’s successful businesses will be those that can capitalize on
changing water availability, measure and manage their water use and
manage the risks that water shortage (or excess) can pose to their supply
chains.
The Carbon Disclosure Project’s
Global Water Report 2012 articulates the concerns and challenges
facing many large, global companies: “When we view water as a shared
resource that we do not own, and not as a compliance or efficiency issue,
longer-term and more effective solutions are generated that solve a host
of related issues for various stakeholders.”
One of those issues is that we as a world are getting thirstier. Water
use is outpacing population growth, rapid in and of itself. According to
the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN-Water, we are
using our water at more than twice the rate of population increase during
the last century.
This thirst has been driven by global trends such as increased migration
to cities and rising demand for more and varied goods and services.
As Asia’s manufacturing base swells to supply those goods and services,
so does industry’s thirst for water. Columbia University estimated that
industry’s use of water in Asia will increase by 65 percent by 2030, and
we’re likely to see similar trends in Indonesia.
Electricity production also plays a major role. Large quantities of water
are typically required in power production.
But the goal of using more water efficient technologies at many of the
conventional power plants already in operation, however, could produce
significant gains for electricity producers in Indonesia. Seemingly
trivial reductions in water use can multiply to substantial savings when
aggregated.
Around the world, we’re seeing this happen. We helped Eskom, which
generates approximately 95 percent of South Africa’s electricity, adopt
air-cooled condensers as an alternative over traditional water-cooling
techniques at its 4,800 megawatts Kusile power plant.
When completed, it will be one of the largest power plants in the world
using air-cooling technology and save approximately 327,000 cubic meters
per day of water — more than 130 Olympic-sized swimming pools — through
this one innovation.
Reuse is another way the manufacturing sector could make a big impact on
their water consumption. Many industrial players, including power
producers, should look seriously at closed loop applications, where
systems retain and reuse hot water, steam, or cold water for a variety of
alternative uses.
Real, long-term operational savings can be reaped from limited capital
investments.
Recent advances in membrane technology also mean high-quality recycled
water could be an option for many future, specialized manufacturers in
Indonesia.
The close connection between water and energy is also providing new
ideas. The beverage industry is beginning to harness biogas, like many
water utilities in the wastewater treatment process, to generate heat and
energy to power the process from the process itself.
I believe it is useful to think of water as not just another resource
that needs to be conserved but as another source of energy, a fuel, that
can be developed. In the same way that wires can channel electricity
efficiently, so water can channel energy.
So, after thinking about how we individually can conserve water and
energy on World Water Day and Earth Hour, we should focus on how industry
can harness the effective use of water to achieve energy benefits. ●
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