About
The Energy/Water Nexus Challenge Group explored the energy savings potential derived from water conservation measures in residential and commercial buildings. Not only does it take vast amounts of water to run and cool most power plants, it also takes vast amounts of energy to treat and transport potable water into homes and businesses while recovering and treating wastewater before disposal. This offers significant potential energy and water savings that have largely been untapped. This challenge group worked to determine the energy savings potential that can be derived from water conservation measures in commercial and residential buildings. We determined methodologies for calculating an energy per gallon factor, and then the process for incorporating these energy savings metrics into the Technical Resource Manual (TRM) that guides utility practice for states. The guide and toolkit that the challenge group produced ultimately shows advocates and policymakers how to calculate the energy savings derived from water, what data sources are available to make these calculations tailored to specific states and/or regions, and the process for getting these recognized so that energy utilities can promote water conservation measures as a strategy to save energy.