BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new Senate bill, the Nexus of Energy and Water for Sustainability (NEWS) Act of 2014 (S. 1971) will create a committee within the National Science and Technology Committee (NSTC) to streamline federal activities related to the management of interconnected energy and water systems. As part of this initiative, last year, individuals from BP, GE, Sandia National Lab, American Water, other organizations, and Energy Points were invited to provide their expertise on the issue at a roundtable discussion.
“It’s great to see this initiative moving forward,” says Dr. Ory Zik, Energy Points CEO, “The truth is that given enough energy, it is possible to provide water to any place in the world—that’s why water is really an energy issue. By measuring source energy (the energy invested in resources such as water and electricity) you’re able to directly compare resources in terms of energy and environmental impact. Organizations facing drought and the risks it poses to their operations shouldn’t just consider direct water conservation as a means of mitigating these risks. It may be that electricity conservation would be as impactful as water conservation, if not more, because of the vast amounts of water it takes to produce that electricity. Only source-to-site energy analysis can bring that to light.”
While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that source energy is the best way to evaluate energy efficiency, Energy Points is the only company to quantify and analyze it on a local level—and do so in a way that explicitly includes energy-water interdependencies. Its physics-based algorithms use big data to calculate source energy across multiple resources. Water, electricity, and fuels are analyzed from source to site, providing the most accurate, comprehensive, and actionable energy analysis on the market.
“When you look at electricity, fuel, and water use as forms of source energy consumption, you’re able to make direct comparisons between them to determine the true culprit of energy inefficiency and environmental harm,” says Dr. Seth Sheldon, Senior Scientist at Energy Points, “This bill is a critical step towards effectively managing national resource use.” Dr. Zik and Dr. Sheldon have recently published an article outlining why water is an energy issue and how we can address it.
The bill reflects a growing recognition that source energy analysis lies at the heart of resource management. In fact, Massachusetts State Senator Jamie Eldridge recently sponsored bill S. 1479 requiring that new public buildings and renovations undergo lifecycle energy analysis of all resources, which can also be done using source energy. These types of legislation are paving the way for organizations to better understand and manage the impact of their energy and resource consumption.