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Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
The Trump Administration’s Necessary but Insufficient Critical Minerals Investments: Q&A
The White House has just announced over $2 billion in new critical minerals, magnets, and battery investments.
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Luisa Palacios on Rebuilding Venezuela’s Oil Industry After the Quakes
It started last year as a pressure campaign at sea, with the United States seizing tankers as part of what President Trump called a “total and complete blockade”...
Events
Find out more about our upcoming and past events.
September 10, 2026
• 10:00 am - 11:00 am
edt
Carbon Markets Webinar: Regulatory Landscape for Project-Based Carbon Credit Markets
PCCMs facilitate the generation, trading, and retirement of carbon credits from projects that remove, reduce, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. By creating a revenue stream from verified climate...
Event
Podcast
Dr. Michael Webber, Professor at The University of Texas at Austin, on the Energy-Water Nexus
August 1, 2016
Turning on a light or filling a glass with water from the kitchen tap are two of the simple conveniences we often take for granted. While energy and water are essential resources, the ways in which they are interconnected is generally not well understood. If a country or region lacks one of these resources, that can limit its ability to access supplies of the other. Producing energy can impact water supply and quality. And producing useable water where its needed takes a lot of energy. Population and economic growth, climate change, government policies, and much more can all further strain access to water and energy, which is becoming ever more critical as developing economies seek access to them for their citizens.
On this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Dr. Michael Webber, Deputy Director of the Energy Institute and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the energy-water nexus, which is the topic of his recent book, Thirst for Power: Energy, Water, and Human Survival. Among the topics of they cover:
- How are our energy and water systems connected? In what ways is water used in energy production, transportation and consumption? And how is energy used in the lifecycle of water used by society?
- What role does policy play in the energy-water nexus? What should policy do to address potential vulnerabilities–from energy production to climate impacts to aging infrastructure?
- Are there parallels to be drawn from designs for carbon pricing? How should we differentiate between water used for basic survival vs. luxury purposes?
- How can we manage the impacts of energy production on water quality and supply, specifically from shale oil and gas production?
- How can new technologies enhance protection of water quality, improve efficiency of water use in energy systems, and reduce energy intensity of water systems?
- How will the impacts of climate change affect the energy-water nexus?
- And many more.
More Episodes
Luisa Palacios on Rebuilding Venezuela’s Oil Industry After the Quakes
It started last year as a pressure campaign at sea, with the United States seizing tankers as part of what President Trump called a “total and complete blockade”...
Javier Blas on Lessons from Closing Hormuz (So Far)
Over the past five months, the Strait of Hormuz has been closed for extended stretches of time, disrupting roughly 10 to 15 million barrels of oil supply each...
Senator Alan Armstrong on Building American Energy Infrastructure
As the demand for power surges across the US, the debate over how to build energy infrastructure has reached a fever pitch. And while both sides of the...
Tom Moerenhout and Tomasz Nadrowski on Fixing the Mineral Supply Chain
Critical minerals sit at the intersection of energy technology, industrial competitiveness, and economic resilience. The issue has hit a fever pitch in the United States, driving the Trump...
Relevant
Publications
The Trump Administration’s Necessary but Insufficient Critical Minerals Investments: Q&A
The White House has just announced over $2 billion in new critical minerals, magnets, and battery investments.
Fix Modeling and Cost-Benefit Analysis
Why U.S. economic models must account for climate change and the clean energy transition to improve policymaking, forecasting, and public investment decisions.
