IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v99y2016icp711-720.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global water footprint assessment of hydropower

Author

Listed:
  • Scherer, Laura
  • Pfister, Stephan

Abstract

Hydropower is an important renewable energy source, but it can consume a lot of water due to evaporation from the reservoir surface, which may contribute to water scarcity. Previous studies mostly used a gross evaporation approach for water footprint assessment where all the evaporation is attributed to hydropower. They fail to consider both evapotranspiration before the dam construction, which should be deducted from the footprint, and the seasonal storage dynamics of water. These considerations are critical for assessing reservoir impacts on water scarcity using temporally explicit water stress indices. This study seeks to fill this gap: we calculate the water footprints of ∼1500 hydropower plants which cover 43% of the global annual hydroelectricity generation. Apart from reduced water availability, alterations of the flow regime can also adversely affect ecosystems. Therefore, environmental flow requirements are also analysed.

Suggested Citation

  • Scherer, Laura & Pfister, Stephan, 2016. "Global water footprint assessment of hydropower," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 711-720.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:99:y:2016:i:c:p:711-720
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2016.07.021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148116306176
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2016.07.021?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. dos Santos, Marco Aurelio & Rosa, Luiz Pinguelli & Sikar, Bohdan & Sikar, Elizabeth & dos Santos, Ednaldo Oliveira, 2006. "Gross greenhouse gas fluxes from hydro-power reservoir compared to thermo-power plants," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 481-488, March.
    2. Gleick, Peter H., 1992. "Environmental consequences of hydroelectric development: The role of facility size and type," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 17(8), pages 735-747.
    3. Jiang, Hanchen & Qiang, Maoshan & Lin, Peng, 2016. "A topic modeling based bibliometric exploration of hydropower research," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 226-237.
    4. Yu, Bing & Xu, Linyu, 2016. "Review of ecological compensation in hydropower development," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 729-738.
    5. Abbasi, S. A. & Abbasi, Naseema, 2000. "The likely adverse environmental impacts of renewable energy sources," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 65(1-4), pages 121-144, April.
    6. Paish, Oliver, 2002. "Small hydro power: technology and current status," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 537-556, December.
    7. Quirin Schiermeier & Jeff Tollefson & Tony Scully & Alexandra Witze & Oliver Morton, 2008. "Energy alternatives: Electricity without carbon," Nature, Nature, vol. 454(7206), pages 816-823, August.
    8. Fthenakis, Vasilis & Kim, Hyung Chul, 2009. "Land use and electricity generation: A life-cycle analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(6-7), pages 1465-1474, August.
    9. Gerbens-Leenes, P.W. & Hoekstra, A.Y. & van der Meer, Th., 2009. "The water footprint of energy from biomass: A quantitative assessment and consequences of an increasing share of bio-energy in energy supply," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1052-1060, February.
    10. Evans, Annette & Strezov, Vladimir & Evans, Tim J., 2009. "Assessment of sustainability indicators for renewable energy technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1082-1088, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Chen, Xiuzhi & Liu, Chang & van Oel, Pieter & Mergia Mekonnen, Mesfin & Thorp, Kelly R. & Yin, Tuo & Wang, Jinyan & Muhammad, Tahir & Li, Yunkai, 2022. "Water and carbon risks within hydropower development on national scale," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    2. Abbasi, Tasneem & Abbasi, S.A., 2011. "Small hydro and the environmental implications of its extensive utilization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 2134-2143, May.
    3. Evans, Annette & Strezov, Vladimir & Evans, Tim J., 2010. "Sustainability considerations for electricity generation from biomass," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 1419-1427, June.
    4. Osmani, Atif & Zhang, Jun & Gonela, Vinay & Awudu, Iddrisu, 2013. "Electricity generation from renewables in the United States: Resource potential, current usage, technical status, challenges, strategies, policies, and future directions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 454-472.
    5. Emblemsvåg, Jan, 2022. "Wind energy is not sustainable when balanced by fossil energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    6. Gottschamer, L. & Zhang, Q., 2016. "Interactions of factors impacting implementation and sustainability of renewable energy sourced electricity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 164-174.
    7. Tucho, Gudina Terefe & Weesie, Peter D.M. & Nonhebel, Sanderine, 2014. "Assessment of renewable energy resources potential for large scale and standalone applications in Ethiopia," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 422-431.
    8. Farajiamiri, Mina & Meyer, Jörn-Christian & Walther, Grit, 2023. "Multi-objective optimization of renewable fuel supply chains regarding cost, land use, and water use," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 349(C).
    9. Horner, Robert M. & Clark, Corrie E., 2013. "Characterizing variability and reducing uncertainty in estimates of solar land use energy intensity," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 129-137.
    10. Saeed Hadian & Kaveh Madani, 2013. "The Water Demand of Energy: Implications for Sustainable Energy Policy Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-14, November.
    11. Szabó, Sándor & Bódis, Katalin & Kougias, Ioannis & Moner-Girona, Magda & Jäger-Waldau, Arnulf & Barton, Gábor & Szabó, László, 2017. "A methodology for maximizing the benefits of solar landfills on closed sites," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1291-1300.
    12. Wachs, Elizabeth & Engel, Bernard, 2021. "Land use for United States power generation: A critical review of existing metrics with suggestions for going forward," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    13. Randle-Boggis, R.J. & White, P.C.L. & Cruz, J. & Parker, G. & Montag, H. & Scurlock, J.M.O. & Armstrong, A., 2020. "Realising co-benefits for natural capital and ecosystem services from solar parks: A co-developed, evidence-based approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    14. Scognamiglio, Alessandra, 2016. "‘Photovoltaic landscapes’: Design and assessment. A critical review for a new transdisciplinary design vision," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 629-661.
    15. Saner, Dominik & Juraske, Ronnie & Kübert, Markus & Blum, Philipp & Hellweg, Stefanie & Bayer, Peter, 2010. "Is it only CO2 that matters? A life cycle perspective on shallow geothermal systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(7), pages 1798-1813, September.
    16. Amor, Mourad Ben & Lesage, Pascal & Pineau, Pierre-Olivier & Samson, Réjean, 2010. "Can distributed generation offer substantial benefits in a Northeastern American context? A case study of small-scale renewable technologies using a life cycle methodology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 14(9), pages 2885-2895, December.
    17. Hottenroth, H. & Sutardhio, C. & Weidlich, A. & Tietze, I. & Simon, S. & Hauser, W. & Naegler, T. & Becker, L. & Buchgeister, J. & Junne, T. & Lehr, U. & Scheel, O. & Schmidt-Scheele, R. & Ulrich, P. , 2022. "Beyond climate change. Multi-attribute decision making for a sustainability assessment of energy system transformation pathways," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    18. Klein, Sharon J.W. & Whalley, Stephanie, 2015. "Comparing the sustainability of U.S. electricity options through multi-criteria decision analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 127-149.
    19. Kelly-Richards, Sarah & Silber-Coats, Noah & Crootof, Arica & Tecklin, David & Bauer, Carl, 2017. "Governing the transition to renewable energy: A review of impacts and policy issues in the small hydropower boom," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 251-264.
    20. Xie, Xiaomin & Jiang, Xiaoyun & Zhang, Tingting & Huang, Zhen, 2019. "Regional water footprints assessment for hydroelectricity generation in China," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 316-325.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:renene:v:99:y:2016:i:c:p:711-720. 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.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    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.