The water consumption of energy production: an international comparison

E S Spang,W R Moomaw,D H Marks,P H Kirshen,K S Gallagher

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/105002

Abstract

Producing energy resources requires significant quantities of fresh water. As an energy sector changes or expands, the mix of technologies deployed to produce fuels and electricity determines the associated burden on regional water resources. Many reports have identified the water consumption of various energy production technologies. This paper synthesizes and expands upon this previous work by exploring the geographic distribution of water use by national energy portfolios. By defining and calculating an indicator to compare the water consumption of energy production for over 150 countries, we estimate that approximately 52 billion cubic meters of fresh water is consumed annually for global energy production. Further, in consolidating the data, it became clear that both the quality of the data and global reporting standards should be improved to track this important variable at the global scale. By introducing a consistent indicator to empirically assess coupled water–energy systems, it is hoped that this research will provide greater visibility into the magnitude of water use for energy production at the national and global scales.

Highlights

Producing energy resources often requires significant quantities of freshwater (Gleick 1994)
This paper provides a global perspective of water consumption of energy production (WCEP) at the national level for 158 countries
The results show that total consumption of water for fossil fuel production is dominated by countries that are large in physical size and population (BRIC countries: Russia, China, Brazil, and India), economically productive (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Norway, and the United Kingdom, among others) and major petroleum producers (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries [OPEC] countries: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Venezuela, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, among others)

Summary

Introduction

Producing energy resources often requires significant quantities of freshwater (Gleick 1994). Water is required for most production and conversion processes in the energy sector, including fuel extraction and processing (fossil and nuclear fuels as well as biofuels) and electricity generation (thermoelectric, hydropower, and renewable technologies). As an energy sector changes or expands, the mix of technologies deployed to produce fuels and electricity determines the associated burden on regional water resources. A water footprint is ‘the volume of water needed for the production of goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country’ (Hoekstra and Chapagain 2007, 35). The water footprint is further specified by type of water use, with ‘blue water’ representing consumption of surface and groundwater, ‘green water’ representing consumption of water via soil strata (e.g. rain-fed agriculture), and ‘gray water’ as the amount of water required to dilute pollutant flows into the environment (Mekonnen and Hoekstra 2010)

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Conclusion