WestWater Intermountain Regional Director Brett Bovee attended the inaugural Stanford Energy Nexus earlier this month. Hosted by Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy, the three-day event brought together industry partners, researchers, and policymakers to discuss pathways for accelerating the energy transition. Bovee joined to hear from energy sector leaders and share ideas on the intersection of water and energy markets in the western U.S. The conference opened with the energy sector’s core challenges: affordability, security, and sustainability. The water sector faces the same pressures. Speakers argued that coalitions built on shared interests will advance technology and projects more effectively than government programs, and that policy systems need to find a new balance as conditions change. Bovee’s key takeaway: both sectors are likely to see technology and policy advances driven by the need to adapt. Water markets were discussed as an important tool in that process.
