The water footprint of coal-fired electricity production and the virtual water flows associated with coal and electricity transportation in China

Abstract

Coal-fired electricity industry is the high-water-consumption sector and the coal and electricity trade among different regions drives virtual water flow which embedded in the coal and coal-fired electricity products. In North China regions, a large amount of water was consumed by coal and electricity products, and transferred to the South China in terms of virtual water. This study calculated the water footprint of coal and coal-fired electricity products in seven regions all over China and established a theoretical system to analyse the virtual water flow regime associated with the coal and electricity trade. Besides, a map of the virtual water flow in China is drawn. The results show that the water footprint of the energy industry in the Eastern and North-western regions is much higher than that of other areas, the water footprint in 2015 is 2.4×109m3 and 3.2×109m3, which is mainly due to the large demand for electricity production in the Eastern regions. And the Northwest region is rich in energy resources, which require large amount of water resources for coal mining and electricity generation. However, in the recent years, the Northwest regions are the highest output of virtual water regions, from 3.7×108m3 in 2000 to 8.6×108m3 in 2015, accounting for 35% of the water footprint of the coal power industry in the region. There is almost no out-flow virtual water in the Eastern and Southern regions. The virtual water of water resources in water-scarce regions is transported to the water-rich regions, which will lead to larger pressure on the water resources in the Northwest region. Therefore, the physical water transfer (e.g. South-to-North Water Diversion Project) is not only the efficient measure to cope with the water issues related to energy production, and the virtual water regulation is also an efficient way for sustainable water management in the future.