IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v3y2018i9d10.1038_s41560-018-0236-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Decoupling between water use and thermoelectric power generation growth in China

Author

Listed:
  • Chao Zhang

    (Tongji University
    Tongji University)

  • Lijin Zhong

    (World Resources Institute (USA) Beijing Representative Office)

  • Jiao Wang

    (World Resources Institute (USA) Beijing Representative Office)

Abstract

As energy and water are fundamentally intertwined, understanding the spatial and temporal evolution of thermoelectric water use and water stress is important for both sustainable energy development and water resource management. Here we compile high-resolution time-series (2000–2015) of water withdrawal and consumption inventories for China’s thermoelectric power sector to identify the driving forces behind changing water use patterns, and reveal the spatial distribution of thermoelectric water stress. We show that freshwater withdrawal has been decoupled from thermoelectric power generation growth at the national level due to the increased adoption of air-cooling and seawater-cooling technologies and advanced large generating units as well as water use efficiency improvements in this period. Nevertheless, the construction of large coal-fired power generation hubs has increased water stress in many arid and water-scarce catchments in northwestern regions of China. The westward development of the power industry necessitates water-withdrawal caps and the integration of water risk analysis into energy planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Chao Zhang & Lijin Zhong & Jiao Wang, 2018. "Decoupling between water use and thermoelectric power generation growth in China," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(9), pages 792-799, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:3:y:2018:i:9:d:10.1038_s41560-018-0236-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-018-0236-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0236-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-018-0236-7?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 search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yan, Xia & Jie, Wu & Minjun, Shi & Shouyang, Wang & Zhuoying, Zhang, 2022. "China's regional imbalance in electricity demand, power and water pricing - From the perspective of electricity-related virtual water transmission," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    2. Jin, Yi & Behrens, Paul & Tukker, Arnold & Scherer, Laura, 2019. "Water use of electricity technologies: A global meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    3. Yachen Xie & Jiaguo Qi & Rui Zhang & Xiaomiao Jiao & Gabriela Shirkey & Shihua Ren, 2022. "Toward a Carbon-Neutral State: A Carbon–Energy–Water Nexus Perspective of China’s Coal Power Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-24, June.
    4. Zhang, Haoran & Li, Ruixiong & Cai, Xingrui & Zheng, Chaoyue & Liu, Laibao & Liu, Maodian & Zhang, Qianru & Lin, Huiming & Chen, Long & Wang, Xuejun, 2022. "Do electricity flows hamper regional economic–environmental equity?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    5. Yiyi Zhang & Shengren Hou & Jiefeng Liu & Hanbo Zheng & Jiaqi Wang & Chaohai Zhang, 2020. "Evolution of Virtual Water Transfers in China’s Provincial Grids and Its Driving Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Castelló-Sirvent, Fernando & García-García, Juan Manuel, 2022. "Exploring the language heterogeneity strategies of European think tanks," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    7. Ouyang, Tiancheng & Su, Zixiang & Yang, Rui & Wang, Zhiping & Mo, Xiaoyu & Huang, Haozhong, 2021. "Advanced waste heat harvesting strategy for marine dual-fuel engine considering gas-liquid two-phase flow of turbine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    8. Huang, Rui & Chen, Guangwu & Lv, Guonian & Malik, Arunima & Shi, Xunpeng & Xie, Xiaotian, 2020. "The effect of technology spillover on CO2 emissions embodied in China-Australia trade," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    9. Wang, Zhaohua & Zhang, Hongzhi & Li, Hao & Wang, Song & Wang, Zhenpo, 2023. "Identifying the key factors to China's unsustainable external circulation through the accounting of the flow of embodied energy and virtual water," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    10. Yang, Lin & Lv, Haodong & Jiang, Dalin & Fan, Jingli & Zhang, Xian & He, Weijun & Zhou, Jinsheng & Wu, Wenjing, 2020. "Whether CCS technologies will exacerbate the water crisis in China? —A full life-cycle analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Zhu, Yongnan & Ke, Jing & Wang, Jianhua & Liu, He & Jiang, Shan & Blum, Helcio & Zhao, Yong & He, Guohua & Meng, Yuan & Su, Jian, 2020. "Water transfer and losses embodied in the West–East electricity transmission project in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    12. Lan, Xinyao & Jin, Jiahui & Xu, Beibei & Chen, Diyi & Egusquiza, Mònica & Kim, Jin-Hyuk & Egusquiza, Eduard & Jafar, Nejadali & Xu, Lin & Kuang, Yuan, 2022. "Physical model test and parametric optimization of a hydroelectric generating system with a coaxial shaft surge tank," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 880-899.
    13. Liu, Yitong & Chen, Bin & Wei, Wendong & Shao, Ling & Li, Zhi & Jiang, Weizhong & Chen, Guoqian, 2020. "Global water use associated with energy supply, demand and international trade of China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    14. Jin, Yi & Scherer, Laura & Sutanudjaja, Edwin H. & Tukker, Arnold & Behrens, Paul, 2022. "Climate change and CCS increase the water vulnerability of China's thermoelectric power fleet," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    15. Jin, Yi & Behrens, Paul & Tukker, Arnold & Scherer, Laura, 2021. "The energy-water nexus of China’s interprovincial and seasonal electric power transmission," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    16. Kahsar, Rudy, 2020. "The potential for brackish water use in thermoelectric power generation in the American southwest," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Zhaodan Wu & Yi Zhang & Yu Hua & Quanliang Ye & Lixiao Xu & Shiqi Wang, 2020. "An Improved System Dynamics Model to Evaluate Regional Water Scarcity from a Virtual Water Perspective: A Case Study of Henan Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-35, September.
    18. Soprani, Stefano & Marongiu, Fabrizio & Christensen, Ludvig & Alm, Ole & Petersen, Kenni Dinesen & Ulrich, Thomas & Engelbrecht, Kurt, 2019. "Design and testing of a horizontal rock bed for high temperature thermal energy storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    19. Kun Peng & Kuishuang Feng & Bin Chen & Yuli Shan & Ning Zhang & Peng Wang & Kai Fang & Yanchao Bai & Xiaowei Zou & Wendong Wei & Xinyi Geng & Yiyi Zhang & Jiashuo Li, 2023. "The global power sector’s low-carbon transition may enhance sustainable development goal achievement," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    20. Wang, Hui & Zhang, Yunyun & Lin, Weifen & Wei, Wendong, 2023. "Transregional electricity transmission and carbon emissions: Evidence from ultra-high voltage transmission projects in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    21. Li, Haoran & Cui, Xueqin & Hui, Jingxuan & He, Gang & Weng, Yuwei & Nie, Yaoyu & Wang, Can & Cai, Wenjia, 2021. "Catchment-level water stress risk of coal power transition in China under 2℃/1.5℃ targets," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    22. Cai, Beiming & Jiang, Ling & Liu, Yu & Wang, Feng & Zhang, Wei & Yan, Xu & Ge, Zhenzi, 2023. "Regional trends and socioeconomic drivers of energy-related water use in China from 2007 to 2017," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).

    More about this item

    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:nat:natene:v:3:y:2018:i:9:d:10.1038_s41560-018-0236-7. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    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.