Energy and resource consumption of land-based Atlantic salmon smolt hatcheries in the Pacific Northwest (USA)

Bioenergy is expected to play an important role in the future energy mix as it can substitute fossil fuels and contribute to climate change mitigation. However, large‐scale bioenergy cultivation may put substantial pressure on land and water resources. While irrigated bioenergy production can reduce the pressure on land due to higher yields, associated irrigation water requirements may lead to degradation of freshwater ecosystems and to conflicts with other potential users. In this article, we investigate the trade‐offs between land and water requirements of large‐scale bioenergy production. To this end, we adopt an exogenous demand trajectory for bioenergy from dedicated energy crops, targeted at limiting greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector to 1100 Gt carbon dioxide equivalent until 2095. We then use the spatially explicit global land‐ and water‐use allocation model MAgPIE to project the implications of this bioenergy target for global land and water resources. We find that producing 300 EJ yr−1 of bioenergy in 2095 from dedicated bioenergy crops is likely to double agricultural water withdrawals if no explicit water protection policies are implemented. Since current human water withdrawals are dominated by agriculture and already lead to ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss, such a doubling will pose a severe threat to freshwater ecosystems. If irrigated bioenergy production is prohibited to prevent negative impacts of bioenergy cultivation on water resources, bioenergy land requirements for meeting a 300 EJ yr−1 bioenergy target increase substantially (+ 41%) – mainly at the expense of pasture areas and tropical forests. Thus, avoiding negative environmental impacts of large‐scale bioenergy production will require policies that balance associated water and land requirements.

Net-zero emissions chemical industry in a world of limited resources

Land and water requirements for the supply of renewable heating and transport energy using anaerobic digestion and water electrolysis. A case study for the UK

The steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) has been successfully tested in field pilots and commercial applications are currently underway by a number of oil companies. The process yields higher oil rates and faster reservoir depletion, as compared to other in-situ oil recovery processes. Current developments of the SAGD process are aimed at improving oil rates, improving oil-to- steam ratios "OSR", reducing energy and minimizing water disposal requirements. In addition to SAGD, progress has been made in the development of solvent injection processes. These processes result in lower oil rates and energy requirements as compared to SAGD. At the present time, limited field results are available for the solvent processes to allow for adequate evaluation of field performance. A novel approach for combining the benefits of steam and solvents in the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen has been undertaken at the Alberta Research Council (ARC). A newly patented Expanding Solvent-SAGD "ES-SAGD" process has been developed. The process has been successfully field-tested and resulted in improved oil rates, improved OSR and lower energy and water requirements as compared to SAGD. The paper discusses the concept and laboratory testing of the ES-SAGD process. Introduction The most promising in-situ thermal recovery technology is the SAGD process. In this process, two horizontal wells separated by a vertical distance are placed near the bottom of the formation. The top horizontal well is used to inject steam and the bottom well is used to collect the produced liquids (formation water, condensate, and oil). Following the success of the UTF project at Fort McMurray, Alberta, a number of field pilots are in progress in other heavy oil reservoirs in western Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan), and around the world. These pilots tested the use of surface accessed horizontal wells and extended SAGD applications to problem reservoirs. These reservoirs often have lower permeabilities, are deeper, have bottom water transition zones, with initial gas-saturated "live" oil and top water / gas caps. In Alberta, the success of these pilots has led to a number of commercial SAGD projects that are currently underway. Current developments of the SAGD process at ARC are aimed at improving oil rates, improving OSR, reducing energy and minimizing water disposal requirements. Progress has been made in the development of combined steam-solvent injection processes, a novel approach for combining the benefits of steam and solvents in the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen. A newly patented(1) Expanding Solvent-SAGD "ES-SAGD" process has been successfully field-tested and has resulted in improved oil rates and OSR, and lower energy and water requirements as compared to conventional SAGD. The ES-SAGD concept and laboratory testing using the high pressure/high temperature experimental facilities at ARC are presented in this paper. THE ES-SAGD CONCEPT Figure 1 illustrates the ES-SAGD concept. In this concept, a hydrocarbon additive at low concentration is co-injected with steam in a gravity-dominated process, similar to the SAGD process.

Exploring energy-water-land nexus in national supply chains: China 2012

This supplement provides a revised estimate of the design energy and water requirements of various irrigation systems utilized in the Pacific Northwest states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. It is intended to provide interested readers information concerning sources of irrigation water, along with the water and energy requirements of the major types of irrigation systems used throughout the region. Revisions were made to update portions of the primary data deck and to correct errors discovered in the original data deck. These revisions have resulted in a reduction in the total regional energy requirements for irrigated agriculture by approximately 7%. Decreases occurred in the states of Idaho and Washington, while Oregon demonstrated an increase. Water requirements for regional irrigated agriculture were increased by 3%; all of this increase occurred in the state of Washington. Slight changes in the acreages irrigated by each type of irrigation system were noted, but are insignificant.

Global warming is mainly caused by carbon dioxide (CO2). For natural gas streams that contain high lev-els of CO2, combining different technologies, such as absorption, adsorption, membrane, and cryogenic separation, may be more convenient for separating acid gas. This study focuses on a gas stream that con-tains 81.14 mole% of CO2. Two hybrid processes, membrane-absorption with amines and cryogenic-membrane, were evaluated for their capital cost, en-ergy and water consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under different operational condi-tions using ASPEN HYSYS V.12. The membrane-absorption system has the lowest CH4 losses, while the hybrid cryogenic-membrane system has lower energy and water requirements and 69% less GHG emissions than the membrane-amine hybrid system. The cryo-genic-membrane system is suitable for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) due to its high carbon dioxide purity and 30% lower operative costs, but requires a slightly higher initial investment.

Lizards in the family Xantusiidae (the night lizards) are known to have resting metabolic rates that are only half those of other lizards of comparable size. We evaluated whether xantusiids also have low field metabolic rates (FMR) and food requirements by measuring FMR and water flux rates with doubly labeled water in three xantusiid species in their natural habitats. Free-living Xantusia vigilis, Xantusia henshawi, and Xantusia riversiana processed energy and water very slowly, about one-third as fast as do other reptiles of similar size. Xantusiid lizards have a distinctive life history that is characterized by very slow growth and low reproductive rates, and they are intensely reclusive. This general lifestyle is also found in some species that live in environments with scarce food resources, such as in caves and in arid habitats, and these species may also have relatively low energy requirements.

Biofuels have the potential to be sustainable, secure, low carbon footprint transportation fuels. Primarily due to government mandates, biofuels have become increasingly adopted as transportation fuels over the last decade and are projected to steadily increase in production. Here the prospects of biofuels are summarized in terms of several important performance measures, including: lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, energy return on investment (EROI), land and water requirements, and tailpipe emissions. A review of the literature leads to the conclusion that most first-generation biofuels, including corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel produced in the United States, reduce tailpipe pollutant emissions and GHG emissions—provided their feedstocks do not replace large quantities of fixed carbon. However, their production is perhaps unsustainable due to low EROI and significant land-use and water requirements. Second-generation biofuels; for example ethanol produced from lignocellulosic biomass, have the potential for larger reductions in GHG emissions and can provide sustainable EROI with reasonable land area usage; however, they require water inputs several orders-of-magnitude greater than required by petroleum fuels. Advanced biofuels from algal oils and synthetic biological processes are further from commercial reality and require more assessment but potentially offer better performance due to their orders-of-magnitude greater yields per land area and lower water requirements; at present, the energy costs of such biofuels are uncertain.

Optimum Utilization of Jatropha Seedcake Considering the Energy, Water and Food Nexus

The steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process has been successfully tested in field pilots, and commercial applications are currently underway by a number of oil companies. The process yields higher oil rates and faster reservoir depletion, as compared to other in situ oil recovery processes. Current developments of the SAGD process are aimed at improving oil rates, improving oil-to-steam ratios "OSR," reducing energy, and minimizing water disposal requirements. In addition to SAGD, progress has been made in the development of solvent injection processes. These processes result in lower oil rates and energy, requirements as compared to SAGD. At the present time, limited field results are available for the solvent processes to allow for adequate evaluation of field performance.A novel approach for combining the benefits of steam and solvents in the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen has been undertaken at the Alberta Research Council (ARC). A newly patented Expanding Solvent-SAGD "ES-SAGD" process has been developed. The process has been successfully field-tested and resulted in improved oil rates, improved OSR, and lower energy and water requirements as compared to SAGD.The paper discusses the concept and laboratory testing of the ES-SAGD process.Introduction. The most promising in situ thermal recovery technology is the SAGD process. In this process, two horizontal wells separated by a vertical distance are placed near the bottom of the formation. The top horizontal well is used to inject steam and the bottom well is used to collect the produced liquids (formation water, condensate, and oil).Following the success of the UTF project at Fort McMurray, Alberta, a number of field pilots are in progress in other heavy oil reservoirs in western Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan), and around the world. These pilots tested the use of surface accessed horizontal wells and extended SAGD applications to problem reservoirs. These reservoirs often have lower permeabilities, are deeper, have bottom water transition zones, with initial gas-saturated "live" oil and top water/gas caps. In Alberta, the success of these pilots has led to a number of commercial SAGD projects that are currently underway.Current developments of the SAGD process at ARC are aimed at improving oil rates, improving OSR, reducing energy, and minimizing water disposal requirements. Progress has been made in the development of combined steam-solvent injection processes, a novel approach for combining the benefits of steam and solvents in the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen. A newly patented(1) Expanding Solvent-SAGD "ES-SAGD" process has been successfully field-tested, and has resulted in improved oil rates and OSR, and lower energy and water requirements as compared to conventional SAGD. The ES-SAGD concept and laboratory testing using the high pressure/high temperature experimental facilities at ARC are presented in this paper.The ES-SAGD Concept. Figure 1 illustrates the ES-SAGD concept. In this concept, a hydrocarbon additive at low concentration is co-injected with steam in a gravity-dominated process, similar to the SAGD process. The hydrocarbon additive is selected in such a way that it would evaporate and condense at the same conditions as the water phase.

The steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process has been successfully tested in field pilots, and commercial applications are currently underway by a number of oil companies. The process yields higher oil rates and faster reservoir depletion, as compared to other in situ oil recovery processes. Current developments of the SAGD process are aimed at improving oil rates, improving oil-to-steam ratios "OSR," reducing energy, and minimizing water disposal requirements. In addition to SAGD, progress has been made in the development of solvent injection processes. These processes result in lower oil rates and energy, requirements as compared to SAGD. At the present time, limited field results are available for the solvent processes to allow for adequate evaluation of field performance. A novel approach for combining the benefits of steam and solvents in the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen has been undertaken at the Alberta Research Council (ARC). A newly patented Expanding Solvent-SAGD "ES-SAGD" process has been developed. The process has been successfully field-tested and resulted in improved oil rates, improved OSR, and lower energy and water requirements as compared to SAGD. The paper discusses the concept and laboratory testing of the ES-SAGD process. Introduction The most promising in situ thermal recovery technology is the SAGD process. In this process, two horizontal wells separated by a vertical distance are placed near the bottom of the formation. The top horizontal well is used to inject steam and the bottom well is used to collect the produced liquids (formation water, condensate, and oil). Following the success of the UTF project at Fort McMurray, Alberta, a number of field pilots are in progress in other heavy oil reservoirs in western Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan), and around the world. These pilots tested the use of surface accessed horizontal wells and extended SAGD applications to problem reservoirs. These reservoirs often have lower permeabilities, are deeper, have bottom water transition zones, with initial gas-saturated "live" oil and top water/gas caps. In Alberta, the success of these pilots has led to a number of commercial SAGD projects that are currently underway. Current developments of the SAGD process at ARC are aimed at improving oil rates, improving OSR, reducing energy, and minimizing water disposal requirements. Progress has been made in the development of combined steam-solvent injection processes, a novel approach for combining the benefits of steam and solvents in the recovery of heavy oil and bitumen. A newly patented(1) Expanding Solvent-SAGD "ES-SAGD" process has been successfully field-tested, and has resulted in improved oil rates and OSR, and lower energy and water requirements as compared to conventional SAGD. The ES-SAGD concept and laboratory testing using the high pressure/high temperature experimental facilities at ARC are presented in this paper. The ES-SAGD Concept Figure 1 illustrates the ES-SAGD concept. In this concept, a hydrocarbon additive at low concentration is co-injected with steam in a gravity-dominated process, similar to the SAGD process. The hydrocarbon additive is selected in such a way that it would evaporate and condense at the same conditions as the water phase.

This paper assesses the environmental impacts of the average American’s diet and food loss and waste (FLW) habits through an analysis of energy, water, land, and fertilizer requirements (inputs) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (outputs). We synthesized existing datasets to determine the ramifications of the typical American adult’s food habits, as well as the environmental impact associated with shifting diets to meet the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) dietary guideline recommendations. In 2010, FLW accounted for 35% of energy use, 34% of blue water use, 34% of GHG emissions, 31% of land use, and 35% of fertilizer use related to an individual’s food-related resource consumption, i.e. their foodprint. A shift in consumption towards a healthier diet, combined with meeting the USDA and Environmental Protection Agency’s 2030 food loss and waste reduction goal could increase per capita food related energy use 12%, decrease blue water consumption 4%, decrease green water use 23%, decrease GHG emissions from food production 11%, decrease GHG emissions from landfills 20%, decrease land use 32%, and increase fertilizer use 12%.

ENERGY requirements for pumping irrigation water were determined for subirrigation systems for three sites in eastern North Carolina. Subirrigation and sprinkler irrigation systems were designed for each site by using the simulation model, DRAINMOD, to insure that the designs would satisfy irrigation and drainage requirements under North Carolina's variable climatic conditions. The performance of each system was simulated using climatological data for a 27-yr period to determine the amount of irrigation water required on an annual basis. Seepage losses from subirrigation systems and sprinkler irrigation efficiencies were considered. Average annual energy requirements were determined for each irrigation method for both surface (stream or canal) and deep well water supplies. The results showed that subirrigation requires 4 to 8 cm/yr more water than sprinkler irrigation when seep-age losses and irrigation efficiences are considered. How-ever, subirrigation requires only about 9 and 6 percent of the energy required for sprinkler irrigation systems oper-ating at 340 and 690 kPa (50 and 100 psi), respectively. When a deep well water supply was assumed, subirriga-tion offered a 20 to 40 percent energy savings for two of the three sites and had about equal energy requirments with sprinkler irrigation for the third site. Simulations for Indiana and Florida locations with the same soil conditions resulted in similar trends for water and energy requirements.

<p>In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) most people live on plant-dominated diets, with significantly lower levels of per-capita meat consumption than in any other region. Yet, economic development has nearly everywhere spurred a shift to dietary regimes with a greater consumption of meat, albeit with regional heterogeneity for meat-type and magnitude. A growing regional economy, changing cultural attitudes, and a steeply increasing population could thus push the regional demand upward in the coming decades, with significant depletion of regional and global natural resources and environmental repercussions. We study the historical association of the four main meat types with demand drivers in recently developed countries via seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) equation systems. Using the calibrated coefficients, trajectories of meat consumption in SSA to 2050 are projected relying on the SSP scenarios over GDP and population growth. Then, using a Leontiefian environmentally extended input-output (EEIO) framework exploiting the EXIOBASE3 database, we estimate the related energy, land, and water requirements, and the implied greenhouse gas (CO<sub>2</sub>, CH<sub>4</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O) emissions. We calculate that if production to meet those consumption levels takes place in the continent – compared to the current situation – global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions would grow by 230 Mt CO<sub>2</sub>e (4.4% of today’s global agriculture-related emissions), the land required for cropping and grazing would require additional 4.2 · 10<sup>6</sup> km<sup>2</sup> (more than half of the total arable land in SSA), total blue water consumption would rise by 10,300 Mm<sup>3</sup> (0.89% of the global total), and additional 1.2 EJ of energy (6% of today’s total primary energy demand in the region) would be required. Alternative scenarios where SSA is a net importer of final meat products are reported for comparison. The local policy and attitudes towards farming practices and dietary choices will have significant impact on both the regional environment and global GHG emissions.</p>