Energy Savings from Industrial Water Reductions

摘要

Although it is widely recognized that reducing freshwater consumption is of criticalrnimportance, generating interest in industrial water reduction programs can be hindered for arnvariety of reasons. These include the low cost of water, greater focus on water use in otherrnsectors such as the agriculture and residential sectors, high levels of unbilled and/or unregulatedrnself-supplied water use in industry, and lack of water metering and tracking capabilities atrnindustrial facilities. However, there are many additional components to the resource savingsrnassociated with reducing site water use beyond the water savings alone, such as reductions inrnenergy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, treatment chemicals, and impact on the localrnwatershed. Understanding and quantifying these additional resource savings can expand therncommunity of businesses, NGOs, government agencies, and researchers with a vested interest inrnwater reduction.rnThis paper will develop a methodology for evaluating the embedded energy consumptionrnassociated with water use at an industrial facility. The methodology developed will use availablerndata and references to evaluate the energy consumption associated with water supply andrnwastewater treatment outside of a facility’s fence line for various water sources. It will alsorninclude a framework for evaluating the energy consumption associated with water use within arnfacility’s fence line. The methodology will develop a more complete picture of the total resourcernsavings associated with water reduction efforts and allow industrial water reduction programs tornassess the energy and CO_2 savings associated with their efforts.