A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications

Published literature on the energy-water nexus continues to increase, yet much of the supporting data, particularly regarding energy-for-water, remains obscure or inaccessible. We perform a systematic review of literature that describes the primary energy and electricity demands for drinking water a...

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Main Authors: Christopher M Chini, Lauren E Excell, Ashlynn S Stillwell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2021-01-01
Series:Environmental Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abcc2a
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author Christopher M Chini
Lauren E Excell
Ashlynn S Stillwell
author_facet Christopher M Chini
Lauren E Excell
Ashlynn S Stillwell
author_sort Christopher M Chini
collection DOAJ
description Published literature on the energy-water nexus continues to increase, yet much of the supporting data, particularly regarding energy-for-water, remains obscure or inaccessible. We perform a systematic review of literature that describes the primary energy and electricity demands for drinking water and wastewater systems in urban environments. This review provides an analysis of the underlying data and other properties of over 170 published studies by systematically creating metadata on each study. Over 45% of the evaluated studies utilized primary data sources (data collected directly from utilities), potentially enabling large-scale data sharing and a more comprehensive understanding of global water-related energy demand. The most prevalent geographic scale of the existing literature was at the individual city scale (39%), limiting comparisons between utilities. Additionally, energy-for-water studies span 34 different countries with 11 countries having at least 4 published studies. The analyzed literature often considered greenhouse gas emissions of energy demand as an important input for life cycle analysis, highlighting the broader impact of the energy-water nexus. As a result of the review, we identify several common practices for filling data gaps, discover that research and data are primarily concentrated in three countries (Australia, China, and the United States), and offer suggestions for the future of the energy-water nexus, specifically regarding energy-for-water.
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spelling doaj.art-e5b746ee5713488bbe1315560fb14d022023-08-09T15:00:27ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Letters1748-93262021-01-01151212301110.1088/1748-9326/abcc2aA review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publicationsChristopher M Chini0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1208-3646Lauren E Excell1Ashlynn S Stillwell2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6781-6480Department of Systems Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology , 2950 Hobson Way, Wright Patterson AFB, OH 45433, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 205 N Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801, United States of AmericaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , 205 N Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801, United States of AmericaPublished literature on the energy-water nexus continues to increase, yet much of the supporting data, particularly regarding energy-for-water, remains obscure or inaccessible. We perform a systematic review of literature that describes the primary energy and electricity demands for drinking water and wastewater systems in urban environments. This review provides an analysis of the underlying data and other properties of over 170 published studies by systematically creating metadata on each study. Over 45% of the evaluated studies utilized primary data sources (data collected directly from utilities), potentially enabling large-scale data sharing and a more comprehensive understanding of global water-related energy demand. The most prevalent geographic scale of the existing literature was at the individual city scale (39%), limiting comparisons between utilities. Additionally, energy-for-water studies span 34 different countries with 11 countries having at least 4 published studies. The analyzed literature often considered greenhouse gas emissions of energy demand as an important input for life cycle analysis, highlighting the broader impact of the energy-water nexus. As a result of the review, we identify several common practices for filling data gaps, discover that research and data are primarily concentrated in three countries (Australia, China, and the United States), and offer suggestions for the future of the energy-water nexus, specifically regarding energy-for-water.https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abcc2aenergy-water nexuswater dataurban water managementenergy-for-water
spellingShingle Christopher M Chini
Lauren E Excell
Ashlynn S Stillwell
A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications
Environmental Research Letters
energy-water nexus
water data
urban water management
energy-for-water
title A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications
title_full A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications
title_fullStr A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications
title_full_unstemmed A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications
title_short A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications
title_sort review of energy for water data in energy water nexus publications
topic energy-water nexus
water data
urban water management
energy-for-water
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abcc2a
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