Electricity-water usage for sustainable development: An analysis of United Arab Emirates farms

Abstract

Electricity and water consumption play a crucial role in the sustainable development of desert regions. In countries with arid climates like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), water-energy efficiency and conservation in agriculture are critical issues. This paper investigates the characteristics of and interlinkages between electricity and water consumption on UAE farms to suggest policies for water-energy efficiency and conservation. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis were performed on data collected from surveys of farm owners and rural water tanker services. Unlike urban areas, these rural statistics show that water use is more important than electricity use, and that the cost and reliability of water are more important than the cost and reliability of electricity. Multivariate regression analysis identified interlinkages among five common factors that influence both electricity and water consumption: farmer age, worker salary, visiting times of owner's family, number of buildings, and number of rooms. Importantly, worker salary is the key influence on both water and electricity consumption. These results suggest that sustainable rural policies should consider the key factors of “workers' salary” and “water cost” for increasing both water-energy efficiency and conservation.