A comparison between carbon footprint of water production facilities in the Canary Islands: groundwater resources vs. seawater desalination

Abstract

The Canary Islands have a water culture tied to the exploitation of their groundwater by means of wells and water galleries. However, the growth of tourism, the increase in the local population and the development of agriculture have led to the emergence of new ways of obtaining water, such as the desalination of seawater. The presence of these desalination plants covers the entire archipelago except for the island of La Palma, and sometimes they function as a complement to water needs, while in other cases they are the only source of drinking water available. To study the environmental impact of the production of drinking water through the exploitation of the aquifer and the desalination of seawater, the carbon footprint methodology was used following the guidelines of the GHG Protocol. The result has shown that seawater installations have the largest carbon footprint, mainly due to the high electricity consumption in the islands and the electricity mix of the archipelago which, as it does not rely entirely on renewable energy sources, increases CO2 emissions into the atmosphere due to the production of drinking water in the islands.

Carbon neutrality of an island with 100% renewable energy production and forest as carbon sinks: El Hierro (Canary Islands) a pilot for Europe

“…Vehicle‐related emissions are approximately 16,400 Mg CO 2 for the period 2011–2020 (Table 2). For the year 2011, emissions linked to energy and vehicles which make up Scope 1 and 2 of the carbon footprint (Cruz‐Pérez, Santamarta, Gamallo‐Paz, et al., 2022; Cruz‐Pérez, Santamarta, Rodríguez‐Martín, et al., 2022) were around 45,000 Mg CO 2 ; for the year 2021, emissions were about 36,000 Mg CO 2 . The annual value linked to carbon sequestration by the forests of El Hierro is 46,785 tonnes of CO 2 .…”

“…Studies on mobility in the Canary Islands are gaining momentum, because of the importance of mobility for the local population and also for tourism. In recent studies carried out on the island of Tenerife, values were obtained for vehicle emissions of 543,375 Mg CO 2 for the year 2020 (Cruz‐Pérez, Santamarta, Gamallo‐Paz, et al., 2022; Cruz‐Pérez, Santamarta, Rodríguez‐Martín, et al., 2022), showing an important comparison between a capital island and a smaller island such as El Hierro. In addition, more and more research is being carried out regarding the importance of electric vehicles on smaller islands and their potential to reduce CO 2 emissions (Ramirez‐Diaz et al., 2016).…”

Addressing Climate Health: A Practical Guide to Quantifying and Reducing Health Care‐Associated Emissions

“…Scopes 1 and 2 are typically the emissions most directly under the control of the facility. To our knowledge, there are no published studies citing the GHG protocol in a hospital setting but there is literature on applying the protocol to emissions assessments on college campuses, 6 waste management, 7 and water production facilities 8 …”

“…To our knowledge, there are no published studies citing the GHG protocol in a hospital setting but there is literature on applying the protocol to emissions assessments on college campuses, 6 waste management, 7 and water production facilities. 8 Here, we describe a systematic emission assessment of our institution and demonstrate how these data can be used to identify high-yield areas for reducing our climate footprint. While our long-term goal is to measure scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in accordance with the HHS Health Sector Climate Pledge, scope 3 emissions can be much more challenging to account for given the required supply chain analysis and mitigation strategies are more likely to be outside of the control of the hospital.…”