Developing high-resolution spatiotemporal methods to model and quantify water use for energy

2019-04-29Electricity systems are integral in the developed and developing world and access to electricity improves overall quality of life and enables basic human needs, such as communication, education and sanitation. The electricity system has complex relationships with the environment and is especially linked to the water system. Electricity is required for water treatment, transport, and delivery and water is required for primary fuel extraction, preparation, transport, and conversion to electricity. Although this relationship is understood, there are few efforts prior to this body of work that present usable data and methodologies to quantify the water used for the electricity sector. Specifically, this body of work quantifies water use for different generating technologies, examines the changes in water use (in magnitude and across space) in response to changes in the electricity grid, develops a methodology to quantify water and emissions with high temporal resolution, and calculates regionally-specific life cycle (i.e., from resource extraction to electricity generation) water consumption volumes and intensities for the United States (US) electricity sector. Collectively, this work represents a set of tools for researchers, water and energy planners, and decision makers to better account for the water requirements of electricity systems. This work is particularly relevant in a world with a changing climate, where water resource availability and distribution are uncertain and electricity grids are shifting quickly in response to climatic, political, and economic drivers