Water and Energy Workshop: Understanding Impacts and Trade-Offs to Facilitate Transitions

Faculty and scholars from the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies, Rice University and Texas A&M University will address the means and methods for tackling the pressing issue of sustainability in the water-energy nexus. This workshop will consider the challenges that growing populations and improved living standards present globally and in Texas, as well as the state of the search for solutions. Speakers will examine trends in water and energy and investigate policy mechanisms and technological advances to enable sustainable management practices.

Posters on topics addressing "Tools for Bridging the Water-Energy Gap Using Nexus Tools" will be on display throughout the day. These posters present a sample of research and commercialization projects working to address the energy-water-food nexus as part of research and teaching programs by the Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) and Biochar groups at Rice University and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Research Group at Texas A&M University.

Agenda

8:00 am

Continental Breakfast

Research Posters on Display: Bridging the Water-Energy Gap using Nexus Tools

Potential of Collected Water from Low Impact Developments (LIDs) for Supplemental Irrigation: A Water-Energy Nexus Approach — John Blake and Sonia Zamarripa, Texas A&M University
Energy, Agriculture and Municipal Demand for Groundwater Use in Changing Climate: Planning for the Future in the San Antonio Region — Jifar Nata, Texas A&M University
Developing a Water Portfolio for the City of Lubbock to Address Food Security — Vishakha Kaushik and Stephanie Elko, Texas A&M University
Bridging the Water Gap in Region J through Coupling Water Re-use and ASR — Mariana Anguiano and Kayla Rohrbach, Texas A&M University
Water-Shale Oil/Gas Nexus: The Case of Eagle Ford Shale — Hamid Shafiezadeh, Elizabeth Nelson and Mohammad Askariyeh, Texas A&M University
Biochar as an Agriculture Amendment to Improve Crop Yields and Reduce CO₂ Emission and Plant Irrigation Needs — Caroline Masiello and Ghasideh Pourhashem, Baker Institute, Rice University
A New Frontier for Texas: Managing and Regulating Brackish Groundwater — Regina M. Buono and Katherine Zodrow, Baker Institute, Rice University
Multifunctional Engineered Nanomaterials — NEWT, Rice University
Engineered Nanomaterials for Solar Desalination — NEWT, Rice University
Engineered Nanomaterials for Scaling and Fouling Control — NEWT, Rice University

8:30 am

Welcome

Kenneth B. Medlock III, Ph.D.
James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics, and Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies, Baker Institute

8:40 am

Panel I — Water-Energy Nexus and Energy Trends

Moderator: Linda Capuano, Ph.D., Fellow in Energy Technology, Baker Institute

"The Water-Energy-Food Nexus"
Michael Hightower
Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories

"Water-Energy Trends: An Industry Perspective"
Clay Bretches
President and CEO, Sendero Midstream LLC

"Meeting the Challenges"
David McBride
Vice President for Health, Safety and Environment, Anadarko Petroleum Company

10:15 am

Break

10:30 am

Panel II — Considering System Solutions and Enabling New Technology

Moderator: Regina M. Buono, Baker Botts Fellow in Energy and Environmental Regulatory Affairs, Baker Institute

"Bridging the Texas Water Gap"
Rabi Mohtar, Ph.D.
TEES Endowed Research Professor, Texas A&M
Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Research Group

"Alternative Water Sources: The NEWT Approach"
Qilin Li, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice University
Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT), Rice University

"Biochar: Real Possibilities and Tempered Expectations for Food, CO2 and Water Management"
Caroline Masiello, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Earth Science and Chemistry, Rice University; Baker Institute Rice Faculty Scholar

Noon