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This study characterizes cooling water sources (by type and quality) and cooling water usage rates in thermoelectric power plants across the US based on data reported by power plant operators to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) for the year 2014. Geospatial distributions of water usage by specific cooling technologies and water sources confirm trends towards wet recirculating cooling systems, dry cooling and reclaimed water usage in the power sector, especially in more water constrained locations. Results include a database of water withdrawal and water consumption rates for 672 unique power plants organized by fuel, prime mover and cooling system classification, expanding available data records by an order of magnitude from previous analyses. While median calculated rates are generally comparable to values reported in the literature for most cooling technologies, results suggest that water usage rates at power plants with unique locations or operating conditions might not be accurately characterized by averages, especially in the case of once-through cooled facilities. Despite previous criticisms of EIA cooling water data, improvements in form instructions, reporting methods, and cooling system definitions have markedly improved the quality and usability of cooling water data records in recent years.

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The US power sector is a leading contributor of emissions that affect air quality and climate. It also requires a lot of water for cooling thermoelectric power plants. Although these impacts affect ecosystems and human health unevenly in space and time, there has been very little quantification of these environmental trade-offs on decision-relevant scales. This work quantifies hourly water consumption, emissions (i.e., carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides), and marginal heat rates for 252 electricity generating units (EGUs) in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) region in 2011 using a unit commitment and dispatch model (UC&D). Annual, seasonal, and daily variations, as well as spatial variability are assessed. When normalized over the grid, hourly average emissions and water consumption intensities (i.e., output per MWh) are found to be highest when electricity demand is the lowest, as baseload EGUs tend to be the most water and emissions intensive. Results suggest that a large fraction of emissions and water consumption are caused by a small number of power plants, mainly baseload coal-fired generators. Replacing 8-10 existing power plants with modern natural gas combined cycle units would result in reductions of 19-29%, 51-55%, 60-62%, and 13-27% in CO2 emissions, NOx emissions, SOx emissions, and water consumption, respectively, across the ERCOT region for two different conversion scenarios.

Water consumption from electricity systems can be large, and it varies greatly by region. As electricity systems change, understanding the implications for water demand is important, given differential water availability. This letter presents regional water consumption and consumptive intensities for the United States electric grid by region using a 2014 base year, based on the 26 regions in the Environmental Protection Agency's Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database. Estimates encompass operational (i.e. not embodied in fixed assets) water consumption from fuel extraction through conversion, calculated as the sum of induced water consumption for processes upstream of the point of generation (PoG) and water consumed at the PoG. Absolute water consumption and consumptive intensity is driven by thermal power plant cooling requirements. Regional consumption intensities vary by roughly a factor of 20. This variability is largely attributed to water consumption upstream of the PoG, particularly evaporation from reservoirs associated with hydroelectricity. Solar and wind generation, which are expected to continue to grow rapidly, consume very little water and could drive lower water consumption over time. As the electricity grid continues to change in response to policy, economic, and climatic drivers, understanding potential impacts on local water resources can inform changes.

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The global trade of energy allows for the distribution of the world’s collective energy resources and, therefore, an increase in energy access. However, this network of trade also generates a network of virtually traded resources that have been used to produce energy commodities. An integrated database of energy trade water footprints is necessary to capture interrelated energy and water concerns of a globalized economy,and is also motivated by current climate and population trends. Here, we quantify and present the virtual water embedded in energy trade across the globe from 2012 to 2018, building on previous water footprinting and energy virtual water trade studies to create an integrated database. We use data from the United Nations Comtrade database and combine several literature estimates of water consumption of energy commodities to generate the global virtual water trade network. Results include a comprehensive database of virtual water trade for energy at the country level, greatly expanding the literature availability on virtual water trade. The total volume of virtual water trade increased 35% from 157 km3 in 2012 to 211 km3 in 2018. The global trade of oil and fuelwood are consistent drivers of virtual water trade over time, whereas coal, hydrocarbons, and charcoal collectively contribute less than 4% of total virtual water trade between 2012 and 2018. Electricity, despite a less dense trade network constrained by infrastructure, contributes notably to virtual water trade, driven largely by water use for hydroelectricity. This study develops an integrated assessment of previous virtual water studies to estimate global virtual water trade of energy, creating a platform for future global studies.