Water Water Everywhere? The Future of our Water Supply

Worrying about water is nothing new. Finding reliable sources of water has long been a primary concern of our ancestors. Think how many major cities of the world surround rivers; the Nile, for example, literally acts as an artery of human civilisation (pictured).

Industrialisation and the subsequent explosion of population during the 1800s marked the start of major shortages, and by the turn of the 20th Century about 2% of people experienced 'chronic' water shortage. By 1960, this number had risen to 9% (280 million people) and by 2005 it affected a staggering 35% of the world's population (2.3 billion people).

In some areas, water is becoming as valued as oil and some predict it to be a major source of conflict and war in the 21st Century and beyond. Unfortunately, things may be about to get worse. Recently, research has indicated that climate change will seriously impact water availability and this, when coupled with our rapidly rising population, makes water supply one of the most serious challenges facing human development. 

The Rise of Renewables - The Stats and Facts of Renewable Energy

A society fuelled solely by renewable energy must surely one of the ultimate goals of humanity. Whether you subscribe to anthropogenic climate change or not, no one can deny that fossil fuels will, eventually, run out. You can argue that finding new reserves, using new technologies, the rise of fracking, etc. etc. will ‘save’ us. But ultimately these options are, at best, a short term solution if millions – billions - of humans want to live the modern way for more than the next few centuries.

We are, however, on the right track. Each year a network of renewable and policy stakeholders, called REN21 (Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21^st Century), publish a report on the state of renewable investment and policy in the world. It’s an interesting and optimistic read.

Here are some of the most interesting facts of their latest report.

Frack from Fiction - The Pros and Cons of Fracking

It seems that everybody is talking about fracking recently. It has been the cause of many polarised debates and is a hot topic amongst environmentalists and energy companies alike. Yet it is nothing new; breaking rocks to extract gas was first experimented with in the late 1940s and the method used today has been a serious source of gas since the late 1990s.

With the cost of fracking declining and the demand for cheap natural gas increasing, it looks as if the argument is here to stay. The number of new fracking sites have now outstripped the building of new conventional rigs and in excess of 200,000km³ of recoverable shale gas is reportedly trapped under our feet. 

It's probably time, therefore, to take an impartial look at the facts of fracking.