Abstract
Abstract The global production of electricity is reliant upon the availability of water resources for the cooling of thermoelectric power plants and in the production of hydroelectricity. Additionally, much of the current global electricity production requires the combustion of fossil fuels, which emit greenhouse gases and create a carbon footprint of electricity production. In this study, we investigate the historical values of global electricity production through country and regional accounting and comparison of carbon and water footprints from 1990–2018. Here we show water footprints of electricity production rising 1.6% year over year from 143 km3 1990 to 220 km3 in 2018. Additionally, the carbon footprint of electricity production increased 2.2% each year with nearly 14 × 1012 kg CO2e emitted in 2018. Our analysis highlights regional comparisons of carbon emissions versus water intensity for a sustainable electricity transition across the globe, recommending the need to account for both resources in policy and technological decisions.
Highlights
Introduction ceAchieving a globally sustainable energy system is a critical component in battling and mitigating climate change
We focus on the consumptive water footprint of the electricity sector
Excluding electricity generated from hydroelectric dams, the total volume of consumed water for electricity is significantly lower at 12.0 km3 in 1990, increasing to 23.8 km3 in 2018
Summary
One of the most challenging aspects of conducting global assessments on the energywater nexus is a lack of location-specific data. In order to establish estimates at the country-scale, we must accept some degree of uncertainty. This section details the development and analysis of country-level (m3 /MWh) water intensities and carbon intensities (kg CO2e /MWh) for electricity across the globe and their changes across the last three decades. Annual country-level electricity profiles and carbon emissions from electricity and heat were collected from the IEA between 1990 and 2018, the latest year with complete data at the time of writing [38]. The data include electricity generation by source from 1990 to 2018 for a majority of countries. The IEA database does not provide data for every country in the world; our complete database includes 145 countries in total. Countries with incomplete or missing electricity profiles are removed from this analysis. For countries with complete electricity profiles, but
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