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Virtual Water Trading Simulation
December 5, 2008 at 12:52 pm · Filed under related research and tagged: CSIRO, modelling, social learning, virtual water, visualisation tools, water markets
CSIRO economists have developed the Australian Knowledge Exchange (AKX) – an online prediction market which aims to forecast water availability.
The AKX has been set up by CSIRO to test whether trading knowledge online can work for water management and decision-making. The AKX is effectively a prediction market which aims to forecast future events. Traders in the AKX use their knowledge to buy and sell ‘virtual stocks’ in an online marketplace. The market price for these stocks represents the consensus forecast of the traders in the market.
In the current simulation study, the researchers are assessing whether traders can combine their knowledge to predict dam levels in the region, in much the same way as stock market traders predict future prices of commodities like oil.
Interested people can register online, get $100,000 play money and start trading predictions. At the end of each month for three months, the trader who has predicted the dam levels most closely will win a small cash prize.
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Water Footprint: Accounting for Virtual Water Use
August 27, 2008 at 2:27 am · Filed under related research and tagged: international, scarcity, water use, virtual water, consumption
A new report published by WWF in the UK highlights the impact of ‘virtual water’ use on diminishing global water supply, using the concept of a ‘Water Footprint’. According to the authors’ approach, a water footprint is a measure of the total water used to produce goods and services that a particular individual, business or nation uses. It is made up of both direct water use and indirect use. The indirect water use is measured as ‘virtual’ water (the volume of water required to produce a certain product). It includes use of blue water (rivers, lakes, aquifers), green water (rainfall in crop growth), and grey water (water polluted after agricultural, industrial and household use).
The report is published as: Chapagain, A. K. and S. Orr (2008) UK Water Footprint: the impact of the UK’s food and fibre consumption on global water resources. London: WWF.
