IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v4y2019i12d10.1038_s41560-019-0501-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global scenarios for significant water use reduction in thermal power plants based on cooling water demand estimation using satellite imagery

Author

Listed:
  • Alena Lohrmann

    (LUT University)

  • Javier Farfan

    (LUT University)

  • Upeksha Caldera

    (LUT University)

  • Christoph Lohrmann

    (LUT University)

  • Christian Breyer

    (LUT University)

Abstract

Connecting research on the water demand of power plants with mitigation strategies for energy-based water use is an important step to ensure global water and energy security, and thus provide more sustainable use of both. Here, we assess the water footprint of 13,863 thermal power plants units with a total active capacity of 4,182 GW worldwide and give an estimate of the current water demand for power production at four different levels—global, regional, country and river. Furthermore, we provide a projection for the energy transition period towards a net zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2050. In particular, we show that by following a ‘Best Policies Scenario’ the water consumption of global power plants can be decreased by about 98%, and water withdrawal by 95% by 2050. Therefore, the suggested pathway provides one potential solution to the problem of water depletion that results from the water-energy nexus.

Suggested Citation

  • Alena Lohrmann & Javier Farfan & Upeksha Caldera & Christoph Lohrmann & Christian Breyer, 2019. "Global scenarios for significant water use reduction in thermal power plants based on cooling water demand estimation using satellite imagery," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(12), pages 1040-1048, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:4:y:2019:i:12:d:10.1038_s41560-019-0501-4
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0501-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-019-0501-4
    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/s41560-019-0501-4?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. Ashish Gulagi & Manish Ram & Dmitrii Bogdanov & Sandeep Sarin & Theophilus Nii Odai Mensah & Christian Breyer, 2022. "The role of renewables for rapid transitioning of the power sector across states in India," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Gonzalez Sanchez, Rocio & Seliger, Roman & Fahl, Fernando & De Felice, Luca & Ouarda, Taha B.M.J. & Farinosi, Fabio, 2020. "Freshwater use of the energy sector in Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    3. 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).
    4. Abdelrahman Azzuni & Arman Aghahosseini & Manish Ram & Dmitrii Bogdanov & Upeksha Caldera & Christian Breyer, 2020. "Energy Security Analysis for a 100% Renewable Energy Transition in Jordan by 2050," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-26, June.
    5. Abdelrahman Azzuni & Christian Breyer, 2020. "Global Energy Security Index and Its Application on National Level," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-49, May.
    6. Caldera, Upeksha & Breyer, Christian, 2020. "Strengthening the global water supply through a decarbonised global desalination sector and improved irrigation systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    7. Lohrmann, Alena & Child, Michael & Breyer, Christian, 2021. "Assessment of the water footprint for the European power sector during the transition towards a 100% renewable energy system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    8. Lohrmann, Alena & Farfan, Javier & Lohrmann, Christoph & Kölbel, Julian Fritz & Pettersson, Frank, 2023. "Troubled waters: Estimating the role of the power sector in future water scarcity crises," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    9. Bogdanov, Dmitrii & Ram, Manish & Aghahosseini, Arman & Gulagi, Ashish & Oyewo, Ayobami Solomon & Child, Michael & Caldera, Upeksha & Sadovskaia, Kristina & Farfan, Javier & De Souza Noel Simas Barbos, 2021. "Low-cost renewable electricity as the key driver of the global energy transition towards sustainability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    10. Elena Helerea & Marius D. Calin & Cristian Musuroi, 2023. "Water Energy Nexus and Energy Transition—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-31, February.
    11. 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).
    12. Andreas Fazekas & Christopher Bataille & Adrien Vogt-Schilb, 2022. "Achieving net-zero prosperity: how governments can unlock 15 essential transformations," Post-Print halshs-03742125, HAL.

    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:4:y:2019:i:12:d:10.1038_s41560-019-0501-4. 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.