IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v250y2019icp821-833.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of coal power production on sustainable water resources management in the coal-fired power energy bases of Northern China

Author

Listed:
  • Gao, Xuerui
  • Zhao, Yong
  • Lu, Shibao
  • Chen, Qianyun
  • An, Tingli
  • Han, Xinxueqi
  • Zhuo, La

Abstract

In the past decades, the nine major energy bases in north and west China produced increasing amounts of coal and coal-fired power to meet rapidly growing energy demand. However, the poor water resources condition has become a bottleneck for sustainable development. In this study, the water footprint of coal and power production is evaluated, and the flow of virtual water arising from the transport of energy products is quantified. The results show that total coal and power production increased continuously from 2006 to 2015. The annual total water footprint was as much as 1.29 billion m3; it showed an initially increasing trend that peaked in 2013, after which it decreased. After 2013, the water footprint decreased primarily as a result of improvements in water-saving technologies. The results also indicate that increasing amounts of virtual water (as much as 0.87 billion m3 in 2015) embedded in energy products flowed from the north and west water deficient areas to the southeast water-rich areas of China, causing severe water scarcity in the major energy producing regions. Unfortunately, based on our estimates, water stress will continuously increase during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016–2020). This study finds that water-saving measures alone are not sufficient to relieve the water shortage and to guarantee water security. Comprehensive countermeasures, including an adjustment to the industrial structure, the physical transfer of water, regulation of the virtual water trade and policy and planning changes, are also necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Gao, Xuerui & Zhao, Yong & Lu, Shibao & Chen, Qianyun & An, Tingli & Han, Xinxueqi & Zhuo, La, 2019. "Impact of coal power production on sustainable water resources management in the coal-fired power energy bases of Northern China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 821-833.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:250:y:2019:i:c:p:821-833
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.05.046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919308980
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.05.046?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. Yu, Fanxian & Chen, Jining & Sun, Fu & Zeng, Siyu & Wang, Can, 2011. "Trend of technology innovation in China's coal-fired electricity industry under resource and environmental constraints," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 1586-1599, March.
    2. Fracasso, Andrea, 2014. "A gravity model of virtual water trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 215-228.
    3. Hamiche, Ait Mimoune & Stambouli, Amine Boudghene & Flazi, Samir, 2016. "A review of the water-energy nexus," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 319-331.
    4. Cai, Yanpeng & Cai, Jianying & Xu, Linyu & Tan, Qian & Xu, Qiao, 2019. "Integrated risk analysis of water-energy nexus systems based on systems dynamics, orthogonal design and copula analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 125-137.
    5. Ercin, A. Ertug & Mekonnen, Mesfin M. & Hoekstra, Arjen Y., 2013. "Sustainability of national consumption from a water resources perspective: The case study for France," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 133-147.
    6. Tsolas, Spyridon D. & Karim, M. Nazmul & Hasan, M.M. Faruque, 2018. "Optimization of water-energy nexus: A network representation-based graphical approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 230-250.
    7. Qin, Ying & Curmi, Elizabeth & Kopec, Grant M. & Allwood, Julian M. & Richards, Keith S., 2015. "China's energy-water nexus – assessment of the energy sector's compliance with the “3 Red Lines” industrial water policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 131-143.
    8. Dai, Jiangyu & Wu, Shiqiang & Han, Guoyi & Weinberg, Josh & Xie, Xinghua & Wu, Xiufeng & Song, Xingqiang & Jia, Benyou & Xue, Wanyun & Yang, Qianqian, 2018. "Water-energy nexus: A review of methods and tools for macro-assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 393-408.
    9. Shang, Yizi & Wang, Jianhua & Liu, Jiahong & Jiang, Dong & Zhai, Jiaqi & Jiang, Shan, 2016. "Suitability analysis of China's energy development strategy in the context of water resource management," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 286-293.
    10. Smakhtin, Vladimir U. & Revenga, C. & Doll, P., 2004. "Taking into account environmental water requirements in global-scale water resources assessments," IWMI Research Reports H031758, International Water Management Institute.
    11. Smith, Kate & Liu, Shuming & Liu, Ying & Guo, Shengjie, 2018. "Can China reduce energy for water? A review of energy for urban water supply and wastewater treatment and suggestions for change," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 41-58.
    12. A. Hoekstra & A. Chapagain, 2007. "Water footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 35-48, January.
    13. Pan, Lingying & Liu, Pei & Ma, Linwei & Li, Zheng, 2012. "A supply chain based assessment of water issues in the coal industry in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 93-102.
    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. Yuangang Li & Maohua Sun & Guanghui Yuan & Yujing Liu, 2019. "Evaluation Methods of Water Environment Safety and Their Application to the Three Northeast Provinces of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-16, September.
    2. Aminul Islam & Mohammad Tofayal Ahmed & Md Alam Hossain Mondal & Md. Rabiul Awual & Minhaj Uddin Monir & Kamrul Islam, 2021. "A snapshot of coal‐fired power generation in Bangladesh: A demand–supply outlook," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(2), pages 157-182, May.
    3. Zhu, Yongnan & Ke, Jing & Wang, Jianhua & Liu, He & Jiang, Shan & Blum, Helcio & Zhao, Yong & He, Guohua & Meng, Yuan & Su, Jian, 2020. "Water transfer and losses embodied in the West–East electricity transmission project in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    4. Elena Helerea & Marius D. Calin & Cristian Musuroi, 2023. "Water Energy Nexus and Energy Transition—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-31, February.
    5. Li, Junjie & Yan, Yulong & Wang, Yirong & Zhang, Yifu & Shao, Lianwei & Li, Menggang, 2024. "Spatial-successive transfer of virtual scarcity water along China's coal-based electric chain," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    6. Lu, Shibao & Zhang, Xiaoling & Peng, Huarong & Skitmore, Martin & Bai, Xiao & Zheng, Zhihong, 2021. "The energy-food-water nexus: Water footprint of Henan-Hubei-Hunan in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Jin, Yi & Behrens, Paul & Tukker, Arnold & Scherer, Laura, 2019. "Water use of electricity technologies: A global meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Yachen Xie & Jiaguo Qi & Rui Zhang & Xiaomiao Jiao & Gabriela Shirkey & Shihua Ren, 2022. "Toward a Carbon-Neutral State: A Carbon–Energy–Water Nexus Perspective of China’s Coal Power Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, June.
    9. Ana Luiza Fontenelle & Erik Nilsson & Ieda Geriberto Hidalgo & Cintia B. Uvo & Drielli Peyerl, 2022. "Temporal Understanding of the Water–Energy Nexus: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-21, April.
    10. Lu, Shibao & Bai, Xiao & Zhang, Jin & Li, Jinkai & Li, Wei & Lin, Ji, 2022. "Impact of virtual water export on water resource security associated with the energy and food bases in Northeast China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    11. Xin Deng & Lingzhi Zhang & Rong Xu & Miao Zeng & Qiang He & Dingde Xu & Yanbin Qi, 2022. "Do Cooperatives Affect Groundwater Protection? Evidence from Rural China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-14, July.
    12. Rosa, Lorenzo & Sanchez, Daniel L. & Realmonte, Giulia & Baldocchi, Dennis & D'Odorico, Paolo, 2021. "The water footprint of carbon capture and storage technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    13. 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).
    14. Li, Meng & Lu, Shibao & Li, Wei, 2022. "Stakeholders′ ecological-economic compensation of river basin: A multi-stage dynamic game analysis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).

    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. Lu, Shibao & Bai, Xiao & Zhang, Jin & Li, Jinkai & Li, Wei & Lin, Ji, 2022. "Impact of virtual water export on water resource security associated with the energy and food bases in Northeast China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    2. Ding, Tao & Liang, Liang & Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Min & Wei, Yuqi, 2020. "Water-energy nexus: The origin, development and prospect," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 419(C).
    3. Chu, Chu & Ritter, William & Sun, Xiaohui, 2019. "Spatial variances of water-energy nexus in China and its implications for provincial resource interdependence," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 487-502.
    4. Sharifzadeh, Mahdi & Hien, Raymond Khoo Teck & Shah, Nilay, 2019. "China’s roadmap to low-carbon electricity and water: Disentangling greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from electricity-water nexus via renewable wind and solar power generation, and carbon capture and sto," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 31-42.
    5. Li, Xian & Yang, Lili & Zheng, Heran & Shan, Yuli & Zhang, Zongyong & Song, Malin & Cai, Bofeng & Guan, Dabo, 2019. "City-level water-energy nexus in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 827-834.
    6. Shang, Yizi & Lu, Shibao & Li, Xiaofei & Hei, Pengfei & Lei, Xiaohui & Gong, Jiaguo & Liu, Jiahong & Zhai, Jiaqi & Wang, Hao, 2017. "Balancing development of major coal bases with available water resources in China through 2020," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 735-750.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Lv, J. & Li, Y.P. & Huang, G.H. & Suo, C. & Mei, H. & Li, Y., 2020. "Quantifying the impact of water availability on China's energy system under uncertainties: A perceptive of energy-water nexus," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    10. Araya, Natalia & Ramírez, Yendery & Cisternas, Luis A. & Kraslawski, Andrzej, 2021. "Use of real options to enhance water-energy nexus in mine tailings management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    11. Zhou, Nan & Zhang, Jingjing & Khanna, Nina & Fridley, David & Jiang, Shan & Liu, Xu, 2019. "Intertwined impacts of water, energy development, and carbon emissions in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 78-91.
    12. Feng, Cuiyang & Tang, Xu & Jin, Yi & Guo, Yuhua & Zhang, Xiaochuan, 2019. "Regional energy-water nexus based on structural path betweenness: A case study of Shanxi Province, China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 102-112.
    13. Lv, J. & Li, Y.P. & Shan, B.G. & Jin, S.W. & Suo, C., 2018. "Planning energy-water nexus system under multiple uncertainties – A case study of Hebei province," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 389-403.
    14. Papapostolou, Christiana M. & Kondili, Emilia M. & Zafirakis, Dimitris P. & Tzanes, Georgios T., 2020. "Sustainable water supply systems for the islands: The integration with the energy problem," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 2577-2588.
    15. Jean-Baptiste Bahers & Paula Higuera & Anne Ventura & Nicolas Antheaume, 2020. "The “Metal-Energy-Construction Mineral” Nexus in the Island Metabolism: The Case of the Extractive Economy of New Caledonia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    17. Juliana Segura-Salazar & Luís Marcelo Tavares, 2018. "Sustainability in the Minerals Industry: Seeking a Consensus on Its Meaning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-38, May.
    18. S. Brown & H. Schreier & L. Lavkulich, 2009. "Incorporating Virtual Water into Water Management: A British Columbia Example," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(13), pages 2681-2696, October.
    19. Cano-Rodríguez, Sara & Rubio-Varas, Mar & Sesma-Martín, Diego, 2022. "At the crossroad between green and thirsty: Carbon emissions and water consumption of Spanish thermoelectricity generation, 1969–2019," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    20. 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.

    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:250:y:2019:i:c:p:821-833. 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.