A Water-Energy Research Agenda: Building California's Policy for the 21st Century

This Working Paper identifies high-impact research priorities at the water-energy nexus that we envision will lead to comprehensive, coordinated and science-based policies and regulations around water and energy. While California has been in the forefront of evaluating the linkages between water and energy, what is still less understood is how policymakers can effectively use the findings and generated knowledge to change the way they manage and plan for water and energy, considering the cross-sector trade-off. The Water-Energy Research Agenda addresses this missing link by identifying key research investments to move the public policy and implementation arena forward in order to achieve effective coordination of water-energy planning and management in California.
The Research Agenda builds upon a comprehensive Water-Energy Nexus Literature Review published in August 2013 which articulated the current state of knowledge on the subject. Both reports are published by Water in the West, a program of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Bill Lane Center for the American West.