Evaluation of the Water–Energy–Land Nexus (WELN) Using Exergy-Based Indicators: The Chilean Electricity System Case

Vanesa Rodríguez-Merchan, Claudia Ulloa-Tesser and Yannay Casas-Ledón
Additional contact information
Vanesa Rodríguez-Merchan: Faculty of Engineering, University of Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Claudia Ulloa-Tesser: Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Environmental Sciences-EULA Center, University of Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile
Yannay Casas-Ledón: Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Environmental Sciences-EULA Center, University of Concepción, Concepción 4030000, Chile

Energies, 2019, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: The competition and interlinkages between energy, water, and land resources are increasing globally and are exacerbated by climate change and a rapid increase in the world population. The nexus concept has emerged for a comprehensive understanding related to the management and efficiency of resource use. This paper assesses water–energy–land nexus (WELN) efficiency through integration of the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and exergy analysis, using the Chilean energy sector (CES) as a study case. The cumulative exergy consumption (CExC) and cumulative degree of perfection (CDP) are used as indicators for WELN efficiency. The results show the production of 1 MWh of electricity required 17.3 GJ ex , with the energy component of WELN (fossil and renewable energy sources) being the main contributor (99%). Furthermore, the renewable energy technologies depicted higher CDP of the water–energy–land nexus due to lower CExC and higher technology efficiency concerning non-renewables. The water and land resources contributed slightly to total exergy flow due to low quality in comparison with the energy component. Nevertheless, water availability and competition for land occupation constitute important issues for reducing environmental pressures and local conflicts. This study demonstrated the feasibility of exergy analysis for the evaluation of WELN efficiency through a single indicator, which could facilitate the comparison and integration with different processes and multi-scales.

Keywords: water–energy–land nexus; exergy analysis; Chilean Electric System; exergy efficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/1/42/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/1/42/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2019:i:1:p:42-:d:300014

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().