Abstract
Electricity generation in the United States entails significant water usage and greenhouse gas emissions. However, accurately estimating these impacts is complex due to the intricate nature of the electric grid and the dynamic electricity mix. Existing methods to estimate the environmental consequences of electricity use often generalize across large regions, neglecting spatial and temporal variations in water usage and emissions. Consequently, electric grid dynamics, such as temporal fluctuations in renewable energy resources, are often overlooked in efforts to mitigate environmental impacts. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated the development of resilient energyshed management systems, requiring detailed information on the local electricity mix and its environmental impacts. This study supports DOE's goal by incorporating geographic and temporal variations in the electricity mix of the local electric grid to better understand the environmental impacts of electricity end users. We offer hourly estimates of the U.S. electricity mix, detailing fuel types, water withdrawal intensity, and water consumption intensity for each grid balancing authority through our publicly accessible tool, the Water Integrated Mapping of Power and Carbon Tracker (Water IMPACT). While our primary focus is on evaluating water intensity factors, our dataset and programming scripts for historical and real-time analysis also include evaluations of carbon dioxide (equivalence) intensity within the same modeling framework. This integrated approach offers a comprehensive understanding of the environmental footprint associated with electricity generation and use, enabling informed decision-making to effectively reduce Scope 2 water usage and emissions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e2024WR038350 |
| Journal | Water Resources Research |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2024 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The code utilized to create this dataset, along with the resulting data, is available for download from Siddik et al. ( 2024 ) at https://www.hydroshare.org/resource/2f54448714554f83b9655da108f0fd3f/ . The input data for this study are publicly accessible through the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) portals, as cited in the References section and Table 1 . L.T.M. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation Grant CBET\u2010 2144169 (\u2018CAREER: Advancing Water Sustainability and Economic Resilience through Research and Education: An Integrated Systems Approach\u2019). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This manuscript has been authored by an author at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under Contract DE\u2010AC02\u201005CH11231 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges, that the U.S. Government retains a non\u2010exclusive, paid\u2010up, irrevocable, world\u2010wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes. This work was supported by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE\u2010AC02\u201005CH11231.
Keywords
- carbon footprint
- electricity generation
- electricity use
- scope 2 emissions
- water footprint
