Water demand for electricity in deep decarbonisation scenarios: a multi-model assessment

I. Mouratiadou (), M. Bevione, D. L. Bijl, Laurent Drouet, M. Hejazi, S. Mima, M. Pehl and G. Luderer
Additional contact information
I. Mouratiadou: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association
M. Bevione: Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and Centro Euromediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC)
D. L. Bijl: Utrecht University
M. Hejazi: Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
S. Mima: Laboratoire d’économie appliquées de Grenoble, CNRS, Grenoble INP, INRA, Univ. Grenoble-Alpes
M. Pehl: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association
G. Luderer: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Member of the Leibniz Association

Climatic Change, 2018, vol. 147, issue 1, No 8, 106 pages

Abstract: Abstract This study assesses the effects of deep electricity decarbonisation and shifts in the choice of power plant cooling technologies on global electricity water demand, using a suite of five integrated assessment models. We find that electricity sector decarbonisation results in co-benefits for water resources primarily due to the phase-out of water-intensive coal-based thermoelectric power generation, although these co-benefits vary substantially across decarbonisation scenarios. Wind and solar photovoltaic power represent a win-win option for both climate and water resources, but further expansion of nuclear or fossil- and biomass-fuelled power plants with carbon capture and storage may result in increased pressures on the water environment. Further to these results, the paper provides insights on the most crucial factors of uncertainty with regards to future estimates of water demand. These estimates varied substantially across models in scenarios where the effects of decarbonisation on the electricity mix were less clear-cut. Future thermal and water efficiency improvements of power generation technologies and demand-side energy efficiency improvements were also identified to be important factors of uncertainty. We conclude that in order to ensure positive effects of decarbonisation on water resources, climate policy should be combined with technology-specific energy and/or water policies.

Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-017-2117-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
Working Paper: Water demand for electricity in deep decarbonisation scenarios: a multi-model assessment (2018)
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:spr:climat:v:147:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s10584-017-2117-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10584

DOI: 10.1007/s10584-017-2117-7

Access Statistics for this article

Climatic Change is currently edited by M. Oppenheimer and G. Yohe

More articles in Climatic Change from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().