Energy for water and water for energy on Maui Island, Hawaii

Grubert, Emily; Webber, Michael E.

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/6/064009

Cited by 24 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Comanagement of energy and water resources is becoming increasingly important as challenges such as extended drought, climate change, and population growth add pressure to freshwater resources, especially in water-constrained regions. − Recent historic droughts in California, Texas, and other parts of the southwestern US have drawn attention to water provisioning for energy-related uses, as well as farming and direct human consumption. ,, Water constraints have not been limited to drought-prone regions: even relatively water-rich regions have faced water-related energy curtailments over the past decade.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Use in the United States Energy System: A National Assessment and Unit Process Inventory of Water Consumption and Withdrawals

Grubert

Sanders

2018

Environ. Sci. Technol.

105

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The United States (US) energy system is a large water user, but the nature of that use is poorly understood. To support resource comanagement and fill this noted gap in the literature, this work presents detailed estimates for US-based water consumption and withdrawals for the US energy system as of 2014, including both intensity values and the first known estimate of total water consumption and withdrawal by the US energy system. We address 126 unit processes, many of which are new additions to the literature, differentiated among 17 fuel cycles, five life cycle stages, three water source categories, and four levels of water quality. Overall coverage is about 99% of commercially traded US primary energy consumption with detailed energy flows by unit process. Energy-related water consumption, or water removed from its source and not directly returned, accounts for about 10% of both total and freshwater US water consumption. Major consumers include biofuels (via irrigation), oil (via deep well injection, usually of nonfreshwater), and hydropower (via evaporation and seepage). The US energy system also accounts for about 40% of both total and freshwater US water withdrawals, i.e., water removed from its source regardless of fate. About 70% of withdrawals are associated with the once-through cooling systems of approximately 300 steam cycle power plants that produce about 25% of US electricity.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Use in the United States Energy System: A National Assessment and Unit Process Inventory of Water Consumption and Withdrawals

Grubert

Sanders

2018

Environ. Sci. Technol.

105

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“…Per capita WrE consumption for the industrial sector was observed within the range of 27 MJ/capita (in Spain based on material flow analysis) (Hardy et al, 2012) to 26,900 MJ/capita (in the USA based on material flow analysis) (Sanders and Webber, 2012). While for the agriculture sector it was 4 MJ/capita (in Delhi, India based on material flow analysis) (Ramaswami et al, 2017) to 9,762 MJ/capita (in Maui Island, Hawaii, USA based on material flow analysis) (Grubert and Webber, 2015).…”

Section: J O U R N a L P R E -P R O O Fmentioning

confidence: 87%

A review of the water-related energy consumption of the food system in nexus studies

Islam

Kenway

Renouf

et al. 2021

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…Each power plant is mapped to the particular attribution boundary of interest. The data within the Chini et al, 27 Bartos and Chester, 38 DeNooyer et al, 39 Grubert and Webber, 40 EIA are self-reported via Form 923 and come with their own sets of uncertainty (although data quality has improved markedly in recent years 32 ). Quantifying the uncertainty of the underlying reported data has been evaluated by others 12,32 and is outside the scope of this study.…”

Section: ■ Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water and Carbon Footprints of Electricity Are Sensitive to Geographical Attribution Methods

Siddik

Chini

Marston

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Environmental footprinting methods provide a means to relate the environmental externalities of electricity production to electricity consumers. Although several methods have been developed to connect the environmental footprint of electricity generation to end users, estimates produced by these methods are inherently uncertain due to the impossibility of actually tracing electricity from the point of generation to utilization. Previous studies rarely quantify this uncertainty, even though it may fundamentally alter their findings and recommendations. Here, we evaluate the sensitivity of water and carbon footprints estimates among seven commonly used methods to attribute electricity production to end users. We assess how sensitive water and carbon electricity footprint estimates are to attribution methods, how these estimates change over time, and the main factors contributing to the variability between methods. We evaluate and make available the water and carbon footprints of electricity consumption for every city across the contiguous United States for all assessed methods. We find significant but spatially heterogeneous variability in water and carbon footprint estimates across attribution methods. No method consistently overestimated or underestimated water and carbon footprints for every city. The variation between attribution methods suggests that future studies need to consider how the method selected to attribute environmental impacts through the electrical grid may affect their findings.

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Energy for water and water for energy on Maui Island, Hawaii

Cited by 24 publications

References 23 publications

Water Use in the United States Energy System: A National Assessment and Unit Process Inventory of Water Consumption and Withdrawals

Water Use in the United States Energy System: A National Assessment and Unit Process Inventory of Water Consumption and Withdrawals

A review of the water-related energy consumption of the food system in nexus studies

Water and Carbon Footprints of Electricity Are Sensitive to Geographical Attribution Methods

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