Running dry at the power plant
In the future, competition for water will require electricity generators in the United States to address conservation of fresh water. There are a number of avenues to consider. One is to use dry-cooling and dry-scrubbing technologies. Another is to find innovative ways to recycle water within the power plant itself. A third is to find and use alternative sources of water, including wastewater supplies from municipalities, agricultural runoff, blackish groundwater, or seawater. Dry technologies are usually more capital intensive and typically exact a penalty in terms of plant performance, which in turn raises the cost of power generation. On the other hand, if the cost of water increases in response to greater demand, the cost differences between dry and wet technologies will be reduced. EPRI has a substantial R & D programme evaluating new water-conserving power plant technologies, improving dry and hybrid cooling technologies, reducing water losses in cooling towers, using degraded water sources and developing resource assessment and management decision support tools. 5 refs., 10 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 20939733
- Journal Information:
- EPRI Journal, Other Information: rogoldst@epri.com; ISSN 0362-3416
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
USA
POWER GENERATION
WATER USE
WASTE WATER
WATER TREATMENT
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
DROUGHTS
WATER SUPPLY
SHORTAGES
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SEAWATER
WATER RESOURCES
CONSUMPTION RATES
COOLING SYSTEMS
RECYCLING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
DESALINATION
EPRI
HYBRID SYSTEMS