16/09/08
Gaetane Suzenet, Water UK Director of European Policy, was invited to join a debate by Comment:Visions, published on its website in September 2008.
Are the challenges posed by carbon emissions and diminishing fuel supplies in reality opportunities in disguise?
These challenges can indeed be opportunities for the water industry, although we will probably only know for sure when we look back. The water industry has to think long-term because of its investments, long-standing service contracts based on the current agenda and external short- to medium-term constraints, which is a challenge in itself!
The water industry has had to adapt to various external constraints, regulatory, environmental and climatic. So far, technical and technological revolutions and evolutions in the water industry have been steered mainly by environmental drivers without considering energy demands/consumption or the carbon impacts. This is mainly due to the need to respond to obligations set by national and European regulators.
The national and European legislation the water industry has had to comply with was mainly to protect the environment and water resources, no matter the cost, energy consumption or carbon emissions. We must also recognise that this legislation has produced benefits. In the UK, compliance with drinking water standards is 99.96 per cent and British people can safely drink tap water.
In the UK, the water sector contributes 3-4 per cent of energy use and less than 1 per cent of the national greenhouse gas emissions, partly through treatment capacities that have to be constantly upgraded to meet ever tighter environmental and health quality standards for drinking water and wastewater. Achieving these standards with most of the technologies available today uses a lot of energy.
To date, the focus for increasing standards has been energy-intensive end-of-pipe solutions and the CO2 emissions from the industry could rise even higher if the approach to environmental protection is not amended. These would further increase if the embodied carbon were factored in.
However, these drivers must now be balanced against the new challenges and the demands to reduce energy use, to mitigate the impacts of climate change and diminish energy costs. Therefore, the UK water industry has been re-considering its approach to water and wastewater management, and this includes managing energy demand, at a pace that has been accelerated by the climate and energy challenges.
All companies are moving to make further investments in anaerobic digestion and CHP (Combined and Heat Power) and other renewable sources and technologies that they were not necessarily able to make twelve months ago. Their economic assessment has shown that these are more cost-effective. This is becoming a general trend across the water industry which now intends to improve energy efficiency and to use more renewable energy sources (currently accounting for 6.5 per cent of total water industry energy use in the UK, compared to 2.7 per cent in the general economy).
The opportunity has to be therefore in the manufacturing and installation/maintenance of such technologies. If the economy of scale argument applies and the more we buy the cheaper the cost of the investment, so the industry in turn will purchase more renewable energy technologies.
Whether the fuel supplies are diminishing or not, it is necessary to ensure that policies are coherent and respond to the challenges posed globally.
In this context, engaging with the regulators is, and will continue to be, a strategic measure in order to ensure an adequate medium- to long-term regulatory, economic and financial planning framework that reflects the challenges posed by carbon emissions and a rising energy demand. This will then lead to potential changes in wastewater infrastructure efficiency, and potential changes in regulation – away from the 'business as usual approach' consisting of favouring end-of-pipe solutions through setting standards, towards upstream management of pollution based on a stricter application of product and process controls at source as well as towards better consideration of energy and carbon implications in future legislation.
These last provisions are key to ensure that there is less treatment downstream, and lower carbon emissions. In this respect, all stakeholders, from the policy-making to the operational level, have a responsibility.
Consumers also have a key role to play – for instance in managing the energy used to heat water. Domestic hot water use – from baths, showers, taps and white goods, not from central heating – emits about 30 million of CO2 per year. It is over 5 per cent of the total annual greenhouse gas emissions. And it is seven times as much as that emitted by the water industry.
A reduction of hot water use in households by 15 per cent would save the equivalent of taking 800,000 cars off the roads. Therefore water efficiency measures that focus on reducing the use of hot water in homes and buildings represent a win-win situation: addressing both water use efficiency and energy use.
Changes in water and wastewater management equally require the support of consumers. The changes cannot occur in a vacuum. Consumers are already aware of the challenges posed by carbon emissions and diminishing fuel supplies through the media. The challenge for us is to ensure that they will positively engage in the necessary transformation and evolution required to respond to the challenges.
That is why companies have widely consulted with consumers on their key challenges and priorities through what we call in our jargon the 'Strategic Direction Statements' 2010-2035. These outline the challenges, priorities and the strategy to ensure that companies deliver a reliable supply of safe, clean water and effective wastewater services.
Whether the challenges posed by carbon emissions and diminishing fuel supplies are in reality opportunities in disguise or not will only find its response in the future. What we know for sure is the immediate need to address those challenges! Because, as we say in French 'Prevention is better than cure'!
Contact: Water UK Communication
Comment:Visions is a partnership between European voice and euronews, in association with Shell, to engage with opinion leaders on air, online, in print and at events.
