Assessment of energy performance and GHG emissions for the urban water cycle toward sustainability

Abstract

This study presents a holistic approach to evaluate energy performance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from urban water supply and sanitation stages, which are important for sustainable water management and climate change mitigation. The study was conducted for Antalya city of Turkey to compare baseline and improved scenario conditions using the Energy Performance and Carbon Emissions Assessment and Monitoring (ECAM) tool. The current application of urban water and wastewater services was defined as the baseline scenario. For the improved urban water cycle, the reduction of non-revenue water, onsite sanitation prevention, increase in energy efficiency, biogas production and reuse of treated wastewater were investigated. Water supply and sanitation stages contributed to approximately 26 and 74% of total GHG emissions and 70 and 30% of energy consumption for the baseline scenario, respectively. GHG emissions were determined approximately as 52,423 tCO2eq/year for CO2 (40%), 47,029 tCO2eq/year for CH4 (35%) and 33,006 tCO2eq/year for N2O (25%) for the baseline scenario. The total GHG emissions of 132,457 tCO2eq/year and energy consumption of 136,328 MWh/year were reduced by 27.65% for GHG emissions and 16.48% for energy consumption for the improved urban water cycle. The outcomes of this research are expected to achieve sustainable cities and combat climate change.

Estimation of Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions of the Water Supply Sector: A Seoul Metropolitan City (SMC) Case Study

“…Climate change adversely affects human life, infrastructure, and the ecosystem. Specifically, the increase in the Earth's surface temperature is predicted to raise sea levels and the incidences of intense floods and droughts [1]. In 2021, South Korea emitted 616 million metric tons of CO 2 and was ranked 10th among the countries in the world with the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [2].…”

“…Water, energy, and carbon emissions are interconnected and critical for urban water sustainability and carbon emissions reduction [9]. Therefore, opportunities to improve energy and water use efficiency and recover and produce more energy should be identified to achieve the management of sustainable urban water supply [1].…”