Abstract
Electricity and water systems are inextricably linked through water demands for energy generation, and through energy demands for using, moving, and treating water and wastewater. Climate change may stress these interdependencies, together referred to as the energy-water nexus, by reducing water availability for hydropower generation and by increasing irrigation and electricity demand for groundwater pumping, among other feedbacks. Further, many climate adaptation measures to augment water supplies—such as water recycling and desalination—are energy-intensive. However, water and electricity system climate vulnerabilities and adaptations are often studied in isolation, without considering how multiple interactive risks may compound. This paper reviews the fragmented literature and develops a generalized framework for understanding these implications of climate change on the energy-water nexus. We apply this framework in a case study to quantify end-century direct climate impacts on California’s water and electricity resources and estimate the magnitude of the indirect cross-sectoral feedback of electricity demand from various water adaptation strategies. Our results show that increased space cooling demand and decreased hydropower generation are the most significant direct climate change impacts on California’s electricity sector by end-century. In California’s water sector, climate change impacts directly on surface water availability exceed demand changes, but have considerable uncertainty, both in direction and magnitude. Additionally, we find that the energy demands of water sector climate adaptations could significantly affect California’s future electricity system needs. If the worst-case water shortage occurs under climate change, water-conserving adaptation measures can provide large energy savings co-benefits, but other energy-intensive water adaptations may double the direct impacts of climate change on the state’s electricity resource requirement. These results highlight the value of coordinated adaptation planning between the energy and water sectors to achieve mutually beneficial solutions for climate resilience.
Highlights
Water and energy5 systems worldwide are, by design and necessity, interdependent: water is an input for hydropower generation and thermal power plant cooling, and electricity powers the conveyance, treatment, usage, and disposal of water
In the event of the worst-case water shortage, our results show that water-conserving adaptation measures provide large energy savings co-benefits, while other energy-intensive water adaptations may double the electricity resource imbalance caused by direct climate impacts alone
8 Our analysis focuses on end-century climate impacts, in the nearer term, California’s policies to electrify transportation, from internal combustion to electric vehicles (EVs), and buildings, from natural gas to electric space and water heating, may have a greater impact on increasing electricity demand than climate change (L12)
Summary
Water and energy systems worldwide are, by design and necessity, interdependent: water is an input for. Water sector adaptation measures commonly sought during long-term declines in surface water, such as water recycling, desalination, or groundwater recharge and withdrawal, are energy-intensive [4, 11–14] Ignoring such interactive climate impacts in planning reduces the reliability of both systems and increases the risk of cascading failures [15–19]. In the event of the worst-case water shortage, our results show that water-conserving adaptation measures provide large energy savings co-benefits, while other energy-intensive water adaptations may double the electricity resource imbalance caused by direct climate impacts alone Through this analysis, we both quantify the compounding climate risks and demonstrate mutually beneficial adaptation opportunities that could arise with increased energy-water crosssectoral coordination.
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