On the face of it, water and electricity could not be more different. Water is a naturally abundant and renewable resource; electricity, in the form we can use, is not. Water can be stored easily in large amounts; electricity cannot, though it can be easily transmitted over great distances, something which is a nightmare to pull off with a bulky, weighty fluid. Yet these two staples of modern life are being increasingly seen as parallel commodities. In many places they are inseparable, with water being used to generate electricity, and electricity to purify water, Often, you cannot have one without the other (see "Working in tandem", page iv).
展开▼
