Resolving the life cycle water consequences of U.S. coal-fired electricity: A challenge of data availability, spatial attribution, and consumer accountability
Abstract
Net generation from United States coal-fired power plants decreased by 40% between 2007 and 2017. Large supplies of low priced natural gas due to hydraulic fracturing, increases in renewable energy generation, and the implementation of greenhouse gas reduction and environmental policies have all contributed to the decline in coal consumption across the U.S. power sector. Despite this decline, coal-fired power plants still make up a large percentage of national electricity generation, representing 31% of total national generation in 2017.
There are water use implications across every life cycle stage of coal-fired power generation, from production and processing through combustion and waste management. There is often a spatial decoupling between where the coal is produced and processed, versus where it is ultimately combusted for power generation, complicating efforts to estimate the life cycle water implications of this electricity consumption. Furthermore, the electricity generated at a coal-fired power plant can be consumed within its own balancing authority or be exported to another balancing authority. The life cycle water consequences of U.S. coal-fired electricity consumption have not been studied with regional specificity. This analysis will quantify 1) the flow of primary energy from the region where the coal is mined to the balancing authority where the coal is burned to produce power and 2) the flow of electricity from the point of generation to the balancing authority where the electricity is consumed. Coal purchase data and fuel consumption data provided by the Energy Information Agency (EIA) will be used, along with records on electricity imports and exports between balancing authorities from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Once flows are quantified, region-specific water withdrawal and consumption rates from the literature will be used to quantify the water consequences from coal production to electricity consumption. This study will yield insight into how the water consequences of coal-fired electricity consumption are spread across the country, from where coal is mined, to where the electricity is ultimately consumed. Understanding these water impacts will enable more consumer-accountability in terms of the water consequences of coal-fired electricity generation.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMGC34B..01M
- Keywords:
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- 0402 Agricultural systems;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES;
- 1804 Catchment;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1834 Human impacts;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 1878 Water/energy interactions;
- HYDROLOGY