Celebrating water and energy

March 22 is International water day! This year’s focus was on waters that cross borders. 70 percent of the world’s surface is covered by water and 75 percent of all countries have within their boundaries shared river basins.

The demographic projections for 2030 suggest that we have to learn to share our energy and water resources in a sustainable and peaceful way. According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the World Energy Council (WEC) nearly 2 billion people have no access to electricity and 2.5 billion people in developing countries, mainly in rural areas, have little access to commercial energy services.

Sharing energy and knowledge are two fundamental principles of the ITER project.

The abundance of water, which is part of the fusion fuel, makes the prospects of the project particularly attractive. For example, one kilogram of fusion fuel can generate the same amount of energy as 10.000.000 kilograms of coal.

The deuterium fuel is abundant in water (33 g/m3) and can be extracted by electrolysis.
Five litres of water contain enough deuterium to generate electricity consumed by a person over three years. Similarly, a bathtub full of water is enough to keep one person going over the next 33 years. Lake Geneva contains enough deuterium to supply all the primary energy needed by our planet for several thousand years.

To find out more about International water day events visit the UN World Water Day site.