TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual water transfers of the US electric grid
AU - Chini, Christopher M.
AU - Djehdian, Lucas A.
AU - Lubega, William N.
AU - Stillwell, Ashlynn S.
N1 - Funding Information:
C.M.C. was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. L.A.D. received funding from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Fellowship. W.N.L. received funding from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The authors thank B. Freitag, who helped create the network visualizations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Water is consumed in the generation of electricity and then transmitted, virtually, across the electric grid, creating a network of water transfers. Virtual water transfers of electricity are an understudied area of the energy–water nexus, with important policy and conservation considerations. Here we analyse the virtual water flows of the US electric grid and the changes in network structure from 2010 to 2016 using electricity transfers between power control areas and power-plant-level water for electricity. Transfers of blue water were 9.21 km3 in 2010 and 11.21 km3 in 2016. Transfers of grey water were 50.18 km3 in 2010 compared to 71.64 km3 in 2016. The change in blue water transfers are despite national trends of lower freshwater demands of thermoelectric power generation. We provide a mapping of virtual water transfers through the US electric grid over time, including blue and grey water, and network analysis of the system.
AB - Water is consumed in the generation of electricity and then transmitted, virtually, across the electric grid, creating a network of water transfers. Virtual water transfers of electricity are an understudied area of the energy–water nexus, with important policy and conservation considerations. Here we analyse the virtual water flows of the US electric grid and the changes in network structure from 2010 to 2016 using electricity transfers between power control areas and power-plant-level water for electricity. Transfers of blue water were 9.21 km3 in 2010 and 11.21 km3 in 2016. Transfers of grey water were 50.18 km3 in 2010 compared to 71.64 km3 in 2016. The change in blue water transfers are despite national trends of lower freshwater demands of thermoelectric power generation. We provide a mapping of virtual water transfers through the US electric grid over time, including blue and grey water, and network analysis of the system.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41560-018-0266-1
DO - 10.1038/s41560-018-0266-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85055517775
VL - 3
SP - 1115
EP - 1123
JO - Nature Energy
JF - Nature Energy
SN - 2058-7546
IS - 12
ER -