The 2020 emissions reduction impact of urban water conservation in California

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Haley ◽  
Jean-Baptiste Gallo ◽  
Abigail Kehr ◽  
Michael Perry ◽  
David Siao ◽  
...  

This paper assesses the potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction impacts of urban water conservation. Using California as a case study, it estimates this co-benefit of California's statewide urban water conservation goal of 20% per capita reduction by 2020 (relative to a year 2000 baseline). We developed a model of a water supply system to assess the impact of reduced urban water demand on emissions. Embedded energy and emissions were established for each stage of the water supply cycle: supply and conveyance, treatment, distribution, end use and wastewater treatment. We conclude that water conservation, in addition to being an important strategy for adaptation to climate change, represents a significant opportunity for mitigation. Under policies that prioritize savings of water that is heated, the most energy-intensive process in the supply cycle, water conservation offers the potential to conserve 3.5 Mt CO2e in 2020. This result suggests that water conservation could be an important mitigation strategy in other states, even those that are not water-constrained and do not have highly energy intensive supply sources.

Author(s):  
Samane Faramehr ◽  
Hassan Hemida ◽  
Taku Fujiyama

Failures and disruption scenarios can reveal inherent but little known dependencies that exist between technical infrastructure systems. Whereas the dependencies between infrastructures in their normal state of operation are usually obvious and mutually correlated, interdependencies, when systems are disrupted, show a great deal of variety, depending on the specific scenario. The literature reveals the lack of a proper tool that can evaluate and quantify the scenario of track flooding caused by a water main burst, a cross-sectoral failure that can impact the operation of two urban infrastructure systems: the railways and the water supply. This work presents an approach to investigate the impact of urban water systems on railways and applies it to the case study of the Thameslink railway and Thames Water assets in London. The developed tool can be integrated into city level water supply GIS systems to facilitate the understanding of external risks (transport disruption) caused by an internal failure (water main bursts). Also, the results can help railway system operators facilitate the decision-making process in terms of drainage policy and maintenance activities.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 461
Author(s):  
Isabel Azevedo ◽  
Vítor Leal

This paper proposes the use of decomposition analysis to assess the effect of local energy-related actions towards climate change mitigation, and thus improve policy evaluation and planning at the local level. The assessment of the impact of local actions has been a challenge, even from a strictly technical perspective. This happens because the total change observed is the result of multiple factors influencing local energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, many of them not even influenced by local authorities. A methodology was developed, based on a recently developed decomposition model, that disaggregates the total observed changes in the local energy system into multiple causes/effects (including local socio-economic evolution, technology evolution, higher-level governance frame and local actions). The proposed methodology, including the quantification of the specific effect associated with local actions, is demonstrated with the case study of the municipality of Malmö (Sweden) in the timeframe between 1990 and 2015.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-221
Author(s):  
K. L. Lam ◽  
P. A. Lant ◽  
S. J. Kenway

Abstract During the Millennium Drought in Australia, a wide range of supply-side and demand-side water management strategies were adopted in major southeast Australian cities. This study undertakes a time-series quantification (2001–2014) and comparative analysis of the energy use of the urban water supply systems and sewage systems in Melbourne and Sydney before, during and after the drought, and evaluates the energy implications of the drought and the implemented strategies. In addition, the energy implications of residential water use in Melbourne are estimated. The research highlights that large-scale adoption of water conservation strategies can have different impacts on energy use in different parts of the urban water cycle. In Melbourne, the per capita water-related energy use reduction in households related to showering and clothes-washing alone (46% reduction, 580 kWhth/p/yr) was far more substantial than that in the water supply system (32% reduction, 18 kWhth/p/yr). This historical case also demonstrates the importance of balancing supply- and demand-side strategies in managing long-term water security and related energy use. The significant energy saving in water supply systems and households from water conservation can offset the additional energy use from operating energy-intensive supply options such as inter-basin water transfers and seawater desalination during dry years.


2013 ◽  
Vol 291-294 ◽  
pp. 3004-3013
Author(s):  
Ding Ma ◽  
Li Ning Wang ◽  
Wen Ying Chen

At a time of increased international concern and negotiation for GHG emissions reduction, country studies on the underlying effects of GHG growth gain importance. China experienced continuous, rapid economic growth over the past. At the same time, energy consumption and CO2 emissions increased rapidly while the energy intensity and carbon intensity showed a downward trend at country level. What factors were driving this change? What measures can be adopted to ensure the continual decrease of energy intensity and carbon intensity? The refined IDA method is employed in this paper to identify the impact of each factor. A year-by-year decomposition is carried out at sector level, and various interesting results on the underlying effects are found. The results yield important hints for the planning of energy and climate policy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mimi Stith ◽  
Alessandra Giannini ◽  
John del Corral ◽  
Susana Adamo ◽  
Alex de Sherbinin

Abstract A spatial analysis is presented that aims to synthesize the evidence for climate and social dimensions of the “regreening” of the Sahel. Using an independently constructed archival database of donor-funded interventions in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Senegal in response to the persistence of drought in the 1970s and 1980s, the spatial distribution of these interventions is examined in relation to population density and to trends in precipitation and in greenness. Three categories of environmental change are classified: 1) regions at the northern grassland/shrubland edge of the Sahel where NDVI varies interannually with precipitation, 2) densely populated cropland regions of the Sahel where significant trends in precipitation and NDVI decouple at interannual time scales, and 3) regions at the southern savanna edge of the Sahel where NDVI variation is independent of precipitation. Examination of the spatial distribution of environmental change, number of development projects, and population density brings to the fore the second category, covering the cropland areas where population density and regreening are higher than average. While few, regions in this category coincide with emerging hotspots of regreening in northern Burkina Faso and southern central Niger known from case study literature. In examining the impact of efforts to rejuvenate the Sahelian environment and livelihoods in the aftermath of the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s against the backdrop of a varying and uncertain climate, the transition from desertification to regreening discourses is framed in the context of adaptation to climate change.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Myers ◽  
P. Grace ◽  
E. Lopez Calva ◽  
X. Zhang

This paper explores the impact of water conservation and rainwater harvesting practices implemented at the site or district scale on the infrastructure, energy and water cycles of their larger urban systems. A case study is presented of a conceptual development in a Southeast Asian climate. Two technologies are examined: water-efficient fixtures and appliances and rainwater harvesting and beneficial use. Practices to reduce water consumption at the site or district scale have implications in the larger system, ranging from reductions in water that has to be treated and distributed, reductions in wastewater that has to be collected and treated, and reductions in energy consumed. Similarly, using rainwater for irrigation will reduce the amount of potable water demand, and will have system energy implications. The paper considers performance criteria for the entire water-energy system, including peak runoff, pollutant loads, energy and carbon footprints.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2818
Author(s):  
Yujun Xu ◽  
Liqiang Ma ◽  
Yihe Yu

To better protect the ecological environment during large scale underground coal mining operations in the northwest of China, the authors have proposed a water-conservation coal mining (WCCM) method. This case study demonstrated the successful application of WCCM in the Yu-Shen mining area. Firstly, by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the influencing factors of WCCM were identified and the identification model with a multilevel structure was developed, to determine the weight of each influencing factor. Based on this, the five maps: overburden thickness contour, stratigraphic structure map, water-rich zoning map of aquifers, aquiclude thickness contour and coal seam thickness contour, were analyzed and determined. This formed the basis for studying WCCM in the mining area. Using the geological conditions of the Yu-Shen mining area, the features of caved zone, water conductive fractured zone (WCFZ) and protective zone were studied. The equations for calculating the height of the “three zones” were proposed. Considering the hydrogeological condition of Yu-Shen mining area, the criteria were put forward to evaluate the impact of coal mining on groundwater, which were then used to determine the distribution of different impact levels. Using strata control theory, the mechanism and applicability of WCCM methods, including height-restricted mining, (partial) backfill mining and narrow strip mining, together with the applicable zone of these methods, were analyzed and identified. Under the guidance of “two zoning” (zoning based on coal mining’s impact level on groundwater and zoning based on applicability of WCCM methods), the WCCM practice was carried out in Yu-Shen mining area. The research findings will provide theoretical and practical instruction for the WCCM in the northwest mining area of China, which is important to reduce the impact of mining on surface and groundwater.


1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdel Rahman Abu Hamed ◽  
A. M. H. Sannen

The paper provides a case study of rural water supply in Fayoum. First, the present state-of-affairs is described and analyzed with respect to production, consumption and coverage. A water balance is drawn up and the projected trends up to the year 2000 are indicated. Nearly full coverage has been achieved already but still more than 50% of the population is served by public standposts. Considerable demand for house connections is apparent. Based on the present trend it is expected that by the year 2000, 75% of the population could be served by private connections, provided sufficient production capacity becomes available. Secondly, the focus is on organization and finance with special attention to cost recovery. Estimates for present billing efficiency and the Unaccounted For Water (UFW) percentages are provided. With the perceived trend in the growth of house connections and decline of public taps there is ample potential to reduce UFW, provided an efficient billing and fee collection system is introduced and leakage is controlled. With the reduction of UFW by “technical” measures half of the cost recovery target can be achieved. The other half has to come from tariff increases. Experience is drawn from the Netherlands-supported Fayoum Drinking Water and Sanitation Project (FADWS) which started in 1990.


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