ENERGY SANS WATER: MOVING TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY IN THE NATURAL RESOURCES NEXUS WITH NATURAL GAS

摘要

A 2011 World Economic Forum publication warns that, by 2030, the worldwide demand for water will exceed the current reliable supply by 40% and as the cost of water increases with higher demand and a fixed supply the cost of goods will increase proportionally. The present supply of easy-access freshwater is near exhaustion and acquiring additional supply through processing (desalination, wastewater reclamation, etc.) represents a step increase in cost that will have broad economic impacts. West Texas is known for electrical power generation with the cost of producing electricity among the lowest in the U.S. With the expectation that water prices will increase and availability will decrease due to over extraction from the Ogallala aquifer, the economic future of West Texas' energy generation sector is linked to the future cost and availability of water. A study shows that natural gas thermoelectric and gas turbine electrical generation has the potential to significantly reduce freshwater consumption. It will be shown that natural gas thermoelectric generation has the lowest life-cycle water consumption (less than 750 gallons/MWh) of any energy production method except solar and wind energy and will therefore experience the lowest water-related cost increase (excluding solar and wind energy). The load on thermoelectric plants of all fuel types can be further reduced by installing standby gas generators in strategic locations to provide flexibility and robustness against droughts, or power grid failures. An economic analysis of the cost of thermoelectric and gas turbine generation is presented for a variety of future water costs.