IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v210y2018icp661-672.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regional water consumption for hydro and thermal electricity generation in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Uisung
  • Han, Jeongwoo
  • Elgowainy, Amgad
  • Wang, Michael

Abstract

Water is an essential resource for most electric power generation technologies. Thermal power plants typically require a large amount of cooling water whose evaporation is regarded to be consumed. Hydropower plants result in evaporative water loss from the large surface areas of the storing reservoirs. This study estimated the regional water consumption factors (WCFs) for thermal and hydro electricity generation in the United States, because the WCFs of these power plants vary by region and water supply and demand balance are of concern in many regions. For hydropower, total WCFs were calculated using a reservoir’s surface area, state-level water evaporation, and background evapotranspiration. Then, for a multipurpose reservoir, a fraction of its WCF was allocated to hydropower generation based on the share of the economic valuation of hydroelectricity among benefits from all purposes of the reservoir. For thermal power plants, the variations in WCFs by type of cooling technology, prime mover technology, and by region were addressed. The results show that WCFs for electricity generation vary significantly by region. The generation-weighted average WCFs of thermoelectricity and hydropower are 1.25 (range of 0.18–2.0) and 16.8 (range of 0.67–1194)L/kWh, respectively, and the generation-weighted average WCF by the U.S.generation mix in 2015 is estimated at 2.18L/kWh.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Uisung & Han, Jeongwoo & Elgowainy, Amgad & Wang, Michael, 2018. "Regional water consumption for hydro and thermal electricity generation in the United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 661-672.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:210:y:2018:i:c:p:661-672
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.05.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917305263
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.05.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wakeel, Muhammad & Chen, Bin & Hayat, Tasawar & Alsaedi, Ahmed & Ahmad, Bashir, 2016. "Energy consumption for water use cycles in different countries: A review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 868-885.
    2. Fthenakis, Vasilis & Kim, Hyung Chul, 2010. "Life-cycle uses of water in U.S. electricity generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 2039-2048, September.
    3. Richard Seager & Mingfang Ting & Cuihua Li & Naomi Naik & Ben Cook & Jennifer Nakamura & Haibo Liu, 2013. "Projections of declining surface-water availability for the southwestern United States," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(5), pages 482-486, May.
    4. Cai, Hua & Hu, Xiaojun & Xu, Ming, 2013. "Impact of emerging clean vehicle system on water stress," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 644-651.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Zhongwen & Tan, Shiqi & Yao, Liming & Lv, Chengwei, 2024. "Exploring water-saving potentials of US electric power transition while thirsting for carbon neutrality," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    2. Jarod C. Kelly & Qiang Dai & Michael Wang, 2020. "Globally regional life cycle analysis of automotive lithium-ion nickel manganese cobalt batteries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 371-396, March.
    3. Pavičević, Matija & De Felice, Matteo & Busch, Sebastian & Hidalgo González, Ignacio & Quoilin, Sylvain, 2021. "Water-energy nexus in African power pools – The Dispa-SET Africa model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    4. Wang, Chunyan & Wang, Ranran & Hertwich, Edgar & Liu, Yi & Tong, Fan, 2019. "Water scarcity risks mitigated or aggravated by the inter-regional electricity transmission across China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 413-422.
    5. Gonzalez Sanchez, Rocio & Seliger, Roman & Fahl, Fernando & De Felice, Luca & Ouarda, Taha B.M.J. & Farinosi, Fabio, 2020. "Freshwater use of the energy sector in Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    6. Micari, M. & Cipollina, A. & Tamburini, A. & Moser, M. & Bertsch, V. & Micale, G., 2019. "Combined membrane and thermal desalination processes for the treatment of ion exchange resins spent brine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    7. Jin, Yi & Behrens, Paul & Tukker, Arnold & Scherer, Laura, 2021. "The energy-water nexus of China’s interprovincial and seasonal electric power transmission," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    8. Chini, Christopher M. & Stillwell, Ashlynn S., 2020. "The changing virtual water trade network of the European electric grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    9. Logan, Lauren H. & Gupta, Rohini S. & Ando, Amy & Suski, Cory & Stillwell, Ashlynn S., 2021. "Quantifying tradeoffs between electricity generation and fish populations via population habitat duration curves," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 440(C).
    10. Obringer, R. & Kumar, R. & Nateghi, R., 2019. "Analyzing the climate sensitivity of the coupled water-electricity demand nexus in the Midwestern United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Guerras, Lidia S. & Martín, Mariano, 2020. "On the water footprint in power production: Sustainable design of wet cooling towers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    12. Xie, Xiaomin & Jiang, Xiaoyun & Zhang, Tingting & Huang, Zhen, 2019. "Regional water footprints assessment for hydroelectricity generation in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 316-325.
    13. Patro, Epari Ritesh & De Michele, Carlo & Avanzi, Francesco, 2018. "Future perspectives of run-of-the-river hydropower and the impact of glaciers’ shrinkage: The case of Italian Alps," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 699-713.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ahmad, Shakeel & Jia, Haifeng & Chen, Zhengxia & Li, Qian & Xu, Changqing, 2020. "Water-energy nexus and energy efficiency: A systematic analysis of urban water systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    2. Srinivasan, Shweta & Kholod, Nazar & Chaturvedi, Vaibhav & Ghosh, Probal Pratap & Mathur, Ritu & Clarke, Leon & Evans, Meredydd & Hejazi, Mohamad & Kanudia, Amit & Koti, Poonam Nagar & Liu, Bo & Parik, 2018. "Water for electricity in India: A multi-model study of future challenges and linkages to climate change mitigation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 673-684.
    3. Zhou, Yuanchun & Ma, Mengdie & Gao, Peiqi & Xu, Qiming & Bi, Jun & Naren, Tuya, 2019. "Managing water resources from the energy - water nexus perspective under a changing climate: A case study of Jiangsu province, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 380-390.
    4. Krarti, Moncef & Aldubyan, Mohammad, 2021. "Mitigation analysis of water consumption for power generation and air conditioning of residential buildings: Case study of Saudi Arabia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    5. Wang, Can & Zheng, Xinzhu & Cai, Wenjia & Gao, Xue & Berrill, Peter, 2017. "Unexpected water impacts of energy-saving measures in the iron and steel sector: Tradeoffs or synergies?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 1119-1127.
    6. Cui, Qi & He, Ling & Han, Guoyi & Chen, Hao & Cao, Juanjuan, 2020. "Review on climate and water resource implications of reducing renewable power curtailment in China: A nexus perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    7. Hong, Sanghyun & Bradshaw, Corey J.A. & Brook, Barry W., 2014. "Nuclear power can reduce emissions and maintain a strong economy: Rating Australia’s optimal future electricity-generation mix by technologies and policies," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 712-725.
    8. Desbureaux, Sébastien & Rodella, Aude-Sophie, 2019. "Drought in the city: The economic impact of water scarcity in Latin American metropolitan areas," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 13-27.
    9. Wang, Xipan & Song, Junnian & Xing, Jiahao & Duan, Haiyan & Wang, Xian'en, 2022. "System nexus consolidates coupling of regional water and energy efficiencies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    10. Wu, X.D. & Chen, G.Q., 2017. "Energy and water nexus in power generation: The surprisingly high amount of industrial water use induced by solar power infrastructure in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 125-136.
    11. Wu, X.D. & Ji, Xi & Li, Chaohui & Xia, X.H. & Chen, G.Q., 2019. "Water footprint of thermal power in China: Implications from the high amount of industrial water use by plant infrastructure of coal-fired generation system," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 452-461.
    12. Hrozencik, Aaron & Aillery, Marcel, 2021. "Trends in U.S. Irrigated Agriculture: Increasing Resilience Under Water Supply Scarcity," USDA Miscellaneous 316792, United States Department of Agriculture.
    13. Bouckaert, Stéphanie & Assoumou, Edi & Selosse, Sandrine & Maïzi, Nadia, 2014. "A prospective analysis of waste heat management at power plants and water conservation issues using a global TIMES model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 80-91.
    14. Wang, Cun-Hai & Chen, Hao & Jiang, Ze-Yi & Zhang, Xin-Xin & Wang, Fu-Qiang, 2023. "Modelling and performance evaluation of a novel passive thermoelectric system based on radiative cooling and solar heating for 24-hour power-generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    15. Zhang, Lige & Spatari, Sabrina & Sun, Ying, 2020. "Life cycle assessment of novel heat exchanger for dry cooling of power plants based on encapsulated phase change materials," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    16. Turner, Graham M. & West, James, 2012. "Environmental implications of electricity generation in an integrated long-term planning framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 316-332.
    17. Liu, Yitong & Chen, Bin & Wei, Wendong & Shao, Ling & Li, Zhi & Jiang, Weizhong & Chen, Guoqian, 2020. "Global water use associated with energy supply, demand and international trade of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    18. Molinos-Senante, María & Sala-Garrido, Ramón, 2018. "Evaluation of energy performance of drinking water treatment plants: Use of energy intensity and energy efficiency metrics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 1095-1102.
    19. Hrozencik, Aaron & Wallander, Steven & Aillery, Marcel, 2021. "Irrigation Organizations: Water Storage and Delivery Infrastructure," Economic Brief 327232, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    20. Hoekman, S. Kent & Broch, Amber & Liu, Xiaowei (Vivian), 2018. "Environmental implications of higher ethanol production and use in the U.S.: A literature review. Part I – Impacts on water, soil, and air quality," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 3140-3158.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:210:y:2018:i:c:p:661-672. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.