Water-energy nexus: A review of methods and tools for macro-assessment

Dai, Jiangyu; Wu, Shanshan; Han, Guoyi; Weinberg, Josh; Xie, Xiangyu; Wu, Xiufeng; Song, Xiao; Jia, Benyou; Xue, Wanyun; Yang, Qianqian

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.08.243

Cited by 324 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 88 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

136

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…According to geographic scales, the existing literature can be divided into four categories: transboundary-level, national-level, regional-level and city-level [53]. Transboundary-level research occurs in a global setting with illustrations of several case studies, such as international reports.…”

Section: Water-energy Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

City-level water-energy nexus in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Yang

Shan

et al. 2019

Applied Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water-energy nexus in a city can either prompt or undermine its development. Yet in China, the relevant research is rarely found. This study accounts the city-level water-energy nexus in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in 2012 from both production and consumption perspectives, where input-output analysis based on city-level input-output tables are applied to conduct consumption-based accounts. Regarding water for energy, Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan occupy the largest amounts of water for production in the energy sector, at 203 million tonnes (Mt), 148 Mt and 118 Mt, and they also consume most water for energy, at 6690 Mt, 1328 Mt and 1476 Mt. In terms of energy for water, Shijiazhuang and Tianjin have the largest amounts of CO2 emissions for production and consumption respectively, at 28 thousand tonnes (Kt) and 1746 Kt. Furthermore, local authorities should prioritise electricity sector as it holds 69% and 72% of the total water amounts for production and consumption in the energy sector. Besides, integrated management is crucial for cities with low water and energy efficiency (Baoding and Zhangjiakou), and for large CO2 emitters in Hebei province in order to ensure their water and energy sustainability without stunting their economic growth.

show abstract

Section: Water-energy Nexusmentioning

confidence: 99%

City-level water-energy nexus in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Yang

Shan

et al. 2019

Applied Energy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The large volume of water utilized by this sector, compounded with climate change, growing population, degradation of water quality, as well as other factors, may exacerbate future water availability problems [5][6][7]. Reduced water availability could also have important implications for reliability of the electric power sector, as suggested by 18 episodes from 2000 to 2015, when coal plants were unable to generate electricity because of insufficient or high-temperature water supplies [8,9]. In almost all incidents the curtailments happened in the summer months during drought periods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The literature examining the water-energy nexus over the past decade has grown substantially, with a focus on electricity generation constraints due to impacts of climate change and water stress [5,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Assuming the same electricity generation profile of today, it has been estimated that water consumption in the southwest US will increase 3%-7% by 2095 [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantification of the water-use reduction associated with the transition from coal to natural gas in the US electricity sector

Kondash

Patiño‐Echeverri

Vengosh

2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The transition from coal to natural gas and renewables in the electricity sector and the rise of unconventional shale gas extraction are likely to affect water usage throughout the US. While new natural-gas power plants use less water than coal-fired power plants, shale gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing has increased water utilization and intensity. We integrated water and energy use data to quantify the intensity of water use in the US throughout the electricity's lifecycle. We show that in spite of the rise of water use for hydraulic fracturing, during 2013-2016 the overall annual water withdrawal (8.74×10 10 m 3 ) and consumption (1.75×10 9 m 3 ) for coal were larger than those of natural gas (4.55×10 10 m 3 , and 1.07×10 9 m 3 , respectively). We find that during this period, for every MWh of electricity that has been generated with natural gas instead of coal, there has been a reduction of ∼1 m 3 in water consumption and ∼40 m 3 in water withdrawal. Examining plant locations spatially, we find that only a small proportion of net electricity generation takes place in water stressed areas, while a large proportion of both coal (37%) and natural gas (50%) are extracted in water stressed areas. We also show that the growing contribution of renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar will reduce water consumption at an even greater magnitude than the transition from coal to natural gas, eliminating much of water withdrawals and consumption for electricity generation in the US.

show abstract

“…In this sense, very few studies have integrated the life cycle thinking within the nexus framework [17,18].Most of these studies have a relatively limited scope and focus on the water and energy nexus assessing at sector-based scale, specifically the effect on agriculture. In addition, the reported studies cover different scales and include the development of many tools, indicators and metrics.Recently, Dai et al [19] reported a comprehensive review related to the diversity of methods, tools and frameworks used to evaluate the interactions between several resources (water, energy, food, land, etc.) in the nexus context.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, Dai et al [19] reported a comprehensive review related to the diversity of methods, tools and frameworks used to evaluate the interactions between several resources (water, energy, food, land, etc.) in the nexus context.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The competition and interlinkages between energy, water, and land resources are increasing globally and are exacerbated by climate change and a rapid increase in the world population. The nexus concept has emerged for a comprehensive understanding related to the management and efficiency of resource use. This paper assesses water-energy-land nexus (WELN) efficiency through integration of the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and exergy analysis, using the Chilean energy sector (CES) as a study case. The cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) and cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) are used as indicators for WELN efficiency. The results show the production of 1 MWh of electricity required 17.3 GJ ex , with the energy component of WELN (fossil and renewable energy sources) being the main contributor (99%). Furthermore, the renewable energy technologies depicted higher CDP of the water-energy-land nexus due to lower CExC and higher technology efficiency concerning non-renewables. The water and land resources contributed slightly to total exergy flow due to low quality in comparison with the energy component. Nevertheless, water availability and competition for land occupation constitute important issues for reducing environmental pressures and local conflicts. This study demonstrated the feasibility of exergy analysis for the evaluation of WELN efficiency through a single indicator, which could facilitate the comparison and integration with different processes and multi-scales.Energies 2020, 13, 42 2 of 20The nexus concept is an systematic approach for improvement of resource management, which can reach high degrees of complexity depending on scales and processes [9]. Consequently, different qualitative and quantitative methods for conceptualizing the relationship between natural resources have been proposed. Ringler et al.[10] developed a comprehensive qualitative framework for assessing the water, energy, land and food nexus (WELF), highlighting the relevance of land in the nexus. Nevertheless, the authors did not provide methods for the WELN-nexus evaluation. Siciliano et al. [11] have recently reported on the effect of large scale farm investment in the European Union on the water-energy-land-food (WELF) nexus, using indicators related to resource availability, scarcity and access. Although the authors describe several interlinkages between the resources, the quantitative evaluation of the nexus is not clearly highlighted. Karabulut et al. [12] studied the ecosystem-water-food-land-energy (WFLE) nexus by considering the ecosystem as the main issue within this nexus. The authors highlightsthe relationship between interventions and environmental impacts. In this case, the nexus evaluation is qualitative, and the matrix proposed can be adapted to different scales to investigate the trade-offs, synergies and antagonisms.Different approaches have been used to quantitatively evaluate the WELN. Silalertruska and Gheewala [13] carried out the evaluation of the WELN of sugarcane production in Thailand, using wat...

show abstract

Water-energy nexus: A review of methods and tools for macro-assessment

Cited by 324 publications

References 88 publications

City-level water-energy nexus in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

City-level water-energy nexus in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Quantification of the water-use reduction associated with the transition from coal to natural gas in the US electricity sector

Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About