The water use of heating pathways to 2050

The water use of heating pathways to 2050: analysis of national and urban energy scenarios

Kaandorp, C. (TU Delft Water Resources)
van de Giesen, N.C. (TU Delft Water Resources)
Abraham, E. (TU Delft Water Resources)

2021

Sustainable energy systems can only be achieved when reducing both carbon emissions and water use for energy generation. Although the water use for electricity generation has been well studied, integrated assessments of the water use by low-carbon heat systems are lacking. In this paper we present an analysis of the water use of scenarios for heat and electricity production for the year 2050 for the Netherlands and its capital, Amsterdam. The analysis shows that (i) the water withdrawal for heating can increase up to the same order of magnitude as the current water withdrawal of thermoelectric plants due to the use of aquifer thermal energy storage, (ii) the virtual water use for heating can become higher than the operational water consumption for heating, and (iii) the water use for electricity production becomes a relevant indicator for the virtual water use for heat generation because of the increase of power-to-heat applications.

Low-carbon heating pathways
Water-Energy Nexus
Water withdrawal
Water consumption
Virtual water footprint
Power-to-Heat
Multi-scale energy
Water use model
OA-Fund TU Delft

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3ddc2307-2c82-4494-b716-b0e85769d58c

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abede7

1748-9326

Environmental Research Letters, 16 (5), 1-11

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2021 C. Kaandorp, N.C. van de Giesen, E. Abraham