The world needs to manage its use of water and energy if it wants to have enough of either vital resource, a new United Nations report states . Most of the world’s energy production requires water, and demand for the resource is set to spike in the coming decades, most notably in China’s expanding economy. The boom in hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — in the United States, in particular, puts even more pressure on water sources, according to the report. With fracking, water and chemicals are pumped into the ground to break up deposits of trapped gas. To generate electricity, many plants burn coal or use nuclear fuel to heat water, creating steam that turns turbines and produces electricity. In essence, a river runs through every light switch. “Decisions concerning energy production need to take account of the limits of water resources, the water requirements of other […]