Led by an initiative of the Sustainability committee, the FACCSF, L’Atelier BNP Paribas, HubTech21 and Prime partnered to organize and host a panel discussion focused on “Clean Energy for Clean Water”.

Held on February 15th, this successful event raised awareness on one of the most important issues the world is facing, water shortage and pollution, but also shed some light on some possible available solutions.

Setting the stage for discussion, our moderator and the CEO of The CleanTech Group, Mr. Sheeraz Haji, presented attendees with some key facts on the world’s increasing water shortage crisis.

With the planet experiencing pollution, insufficient government regulations, overconsumption, excessive saltiness, and a major shortage of water, sustainability has become a major threat to the world’s economic growth. While we already know we do not have enough water to sustain current population growth rates, the water crisis also presents ever-expanding business opportunities for companies who come up with the most innovative solutions.

Indeed, whether it is through corporate sustainability efforts, consumers’ growing environmental awareness, or innovation, the business world is a major stakeholder and one of the main drivers for change, as illustrated by our panelists’ presentations.

H. P. Michelet, Executive Chairman at Energy Recovery Inc (ERI), introduced us to the growing market of water desalination. Mr. Michelet highlighted the industry’s innovations that have allowed the costs of desalinated water to drop from $2.50 for 1000 gallons in 1972 to $0.70 in 2010, below the average price of water. Indeed, while a major problem for water desalination used to be high energy costs, the technology developed by ERI is 98% energy efficient. By succeeding to reduce energy consumption by 60% in the desalination process, Energy Recovery Inc. has rendered the water desalination process affordable and opened a whole new market for it.

Mr. Bruce Marlow, Vice President of key accounts at Areva, talked about Areva’s vision of the future for clean energy illustrated by the Fresno Clean Energy park project. Aiming to reduce the energy production impact on the environment, Areva has designed a new type of power plant that relies on clean energy sources, such as solar and wind, to operate water desalination and water treatment processes and on the potential to create plastic by-products from the resulting brine. Mr. Marlow stated that this new power plant will provide Fresno with energy independence based on safe and cost-effective power, and enable the production of clean water within two years using solar energy. This would result in large scale water production for human consumption, agricultural irrigation and industrial needs, while implementing a drainage water solution to protect the ecosystem and help solve many of the water sustainability problems facing California.

Our last panelist, Mr. Thibeaut Scholasch, Founder and Vice President of Research and Development of Fruition Sciences , focused on the technology his company has developed to address the issue of agriculture’s overconsumption of water. With 80% of water in California going to agriculture, optimizing the use of water is indeed an important step in tackling water scarcity. To do so, Fruition Sciences has concentrated its research on monitoring plants’ physiological water needs. Only applied to vineyards at the moment, this method not only saves a great amount of water, it also optimizes yield and quality by irrigating only when the plants physically need it. Put simply, enhancing dry farming practices for a 30-acre plot can save up to 150 swimming pools of water and result in a higher quality wine.

The panelists’ presentations sparked a lively discussion among the audience, highlighting the need for a shift in mentality about water. Indeed, as our panelists concluded on the future of water, they pointed out that although technology solutions to address water shortages and pollution already exist, to truly address the issues, we have to change the way we think about water. Although a global issue, water is also very much a local issue and is treated as such. There is also no global or local agreement on the true price of water which. To tackle this problem, the corporate world, in cooperation with local governments, must share responsibility and contribute to address water sustainability issues by fostering both innovative solutions and public awareness.

We thank our panelists, hosts, and attendees for their participation.