Addressing the Scientific, Technological and Societal Challenges of the Energy, Water, and Food Nexus: Enabling Resiliency in Energy, Water, and Food Systems for Society

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Transformative changes in our production of secure and sustainable energy, food, and water sources, and in the efficient use of energy, are among the most significant challenges of the 21st Century, initially manifesting in regions like Arizona and the Southwestern U.S. and eventually the entire country. Professors Neal Armstrong, Kimberly Ogden, and Ardeth Barnhart, MPA of the University of Arizona are organizing a workshop that seeks to address those challenges in a focused manner, producing outcomes that will inform: i) the academic participants who will be called upon to create the research efforts required to address these challenges; ii) the agencies who will be required to create optimized funding opportunities which ensure broad based participation, and significant outcomes; and iii) the decision makers and general public who will be the consumers of these scientific, technology development, and policy and economic analysis research efforts. The workshop, supported by the Division of Chemistry, is entitled, "Addressing the Scientific, Technological and Societal Challenges of the Energy, Water, and Food Nexus: Enabling Resiliency in Energy, Water, and Food Systems for Society," is to be held April 16-17, 2015 at Biosphere 2 near Tucson, Arizona. This workshop will bring together a select group of representatives from academic institutions, government and industry to help identify the top scientific questions that address the pressing global need to secure the availability of energy, water and food for future generations. Underlying the discussions will be the recognition from the outset that proposed solutions cannot a priori require more energy (and water) than they deliver, which has been a common occurrence in technological developments in the recent past. Formal presentations and breakout discussions will occur in parallel sessions organized around five general topics: 1) New energy sources for water and food, 2) Energy efficient water re-use and purification, 3) Energy, water and food systems, 4) Economics, policy, business and society, and 5) Technology and infrastructure. The outcomes of these sessions will be integrated during a final plenary session. The results of the workshop will be disseminated through a workshop report.