The Role of Renewable Energy Resources in Sustainability of Water Desalination as a Potential Fresh-Water Source: An Updated Review

Esmaeil Ahmadi, Benjamin McLellan, Behnam Mohammadi-Ivatloo and Tetsuo Tezuka
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Esmaeil Ahmadi: Energy Economics Laboratory, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Benjamin McLellan: Energy Economics Laboratory, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Behnam Mohammadi-Ivatloo: Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 5157944533, Iran
Tetsuo Tezuka: Energy Economics Laboratory, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 13, 1-31

Abstract: Desalination is becoming a practical option to meet water demand in an increasing number of locations that are facing water scarcity. Currently, more than 150 countries in the world are already using desalination technologies, which account for about one percent of the world’s drinking water. Although for specific regions, desalination is the only feasible solution to close the supply–demand gap (for example the production of desalinated seawater in the Middle East is predicted to rise almost fourteen-fold by 2040), the sustainability of desalination systems is still remarkably under question. This review aims first to investigate the technical and economic trends and environmental and social aspects of desalination systems and then, in the second stage, to give an overview of the role of renewable energy technologies in the sustainability of the future water systems with an increasing share of desalination.

Keywords: sustainability; desalination; renewable energy; water–energy-nexus (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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