A review on water-energy nexus and directions for future studies: From supply to demand end

© 2018, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. All rights reserved. The intrinsic links between water and energy have produced a new concept known as water-energy nexus (WEN), which has been increasingly studied by scholars and global institutions since the 1990s. This paper provides a review of water-energy nexus studies in an interdisciplinary manner starting from two major approaches—water for energy and energy for water—which focus principally on quantitative studies, but also on policy and institutional dimensions. Many studies mention data collection, the lack of coordination between existing frameworks and the scale/boundary of the two resources as major challenges, whereas new technologies are seen as an opportunity for the nexus perspective. After identifying research gaps, the political ecology approach is proposed for a critical reflection on WEN. Additionally, water poverty and energy poverty (or fuel poverty) are also proposed as part of WEN studies in order to broaden their spectrum to include the demand-end perspective and introduce a social dimension in WEN.