ABSTRACT
This chapter on energy is included in a book about water chemistry because of the very close relationship between water and energy. Any meaningful consideration of water availability and quality must consider energy. And the provision of sustainable energy requires consideration of the availability of water and the effect that providing energy has upon water resources. One of the greater uses of water is for cooling electric power plants. Greenhouse warming largely results from carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere in the combustion of fossil fuels. Sustainable biomass energy sources are dependent upon water to grow plants; algae can be grown in water as a renewable biomass energy resource. With abundant sustainable energy, water supplies can be vastly extended by means including purišcation of municipal wastewater to drinking water standards, desalination of brackish groundwater, and even desalination of seawater. Many other correlations can be drawn between water and energy.
