Geographic Footprint of Electricity Use for Water Services in the Western U.S.
Abstract
A significant fraction of our nation’s electricity use goes to lift, convey, and treat water, while the resulting expenditures on electricity represent a key budgetary consideration for water service providers. In order to improve understanding of the electricity-for-water interdependency, electricity used in providing water services is mapped at the regional, state and county level for the 17-conterminous states in the Western U.S. Our study is unique in estimating electricity use for large-scale conveyance and agricultural pumping as well as mapping these electricity uses along with that for drinking and wastewater services at a state and county level. These results indicate that drinking and wastewater account for roughly 2% of total West-wide electricity use, while an additional 1.2% is consumed by large-scale conveyance projects and 2.6% is consumed by agricultural pumping. The percent of electricity used for water services varies strongly by state with some as high as 34%, while other states expend less than 1%. Every county in the West uses some electricity for water services; however, there is a large disparity in use ranging from 10 MWh/yr to 5.8 TWh/yr. Finally, our results support long-term transmission planning in the Western U.S. by characterizing an important component of the electricmore »
- Authors:
-
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1182984
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2014-15530J
Journal ID: ISSN 0013-936X; 533706
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000; M610000581
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Science and Technology
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 48; Journal Issue: 15; Journal ID: ISSN 0013-936X
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
Citation Formats
Tidwell, Vincent C., Moreland, Barbara Denise, and Zemlick, Katie. Geographic Footprint of Electricity Use for Water Services in the Western U.S.. United States: N. p., 2014.
Web. doi:10.1021/es5016845.
Tidwell, Vincent C., Moreland, Barbara Denise, & Zemlick, Katie. Geographic Footprint of Electricity Use for Water Services in the Western U.S.. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/es5016845
Tidwell, Vincent C., Moreland, Barbara Denise, and Zemlick, Katie. 2014.
"Geographic Footprint of Electricity Use for Water Services in the Western U.S.". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/es5016845. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1182984.
@article{osti_1182984,
title = {Geographic Footprint of Electricity Use for Water Services in the Western U.S.},
author = {Tidwell, Vincent C. and Moreland, Barbara Denise and Zemlick, Katie},
abstractNote = {A significant fraction of our nation’s electricity use goes to lift, convey, and treat water, while the resulting expenditures on electricity represent a key budgetary consideration for water service providers. In order to improve understanding of the electricity-for-water interdependency, electricity used in providing water services is mapped at the regional, state and county level for the 17-conterminous states in the Western U.S. Our study is unique in estimating electricity use for large-scale conveyance and agricultural pumping as well as mapping these electricity uses along with that for drinking and wastewater services at a state and county level. These results indicate that drinking and wastewater account for roughly 2% of total West-wide electricity use, while an additional 1.2% is consumed by large-scale conveyance projects and 2.6% is consumed by agricultural pumping. The percent of electricity used for water services varies strongly by state with some as high as 34%, while other states expend less than 1%. Every county in the West uses some electricity for water services; however, there is a large disparity in use ranging from 10 MWh/yr to 5.8 TWh/yr. Finally, our results support long-term transmission planning in the Western U.S. by characterizing an important component of the electric load.},
doi = {10.1021/es5016845},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1182984},
journal = {Environmental Science and Technology},
issn = {0013-936X},
number = 15,
volume = 48,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Wed Jun 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}
Web of Science
Works referenced in this record:
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journal, September 2012
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Evaluating the electricity intensity of evolving water supply mixes: the case of California’s water network
journal, October 2017
- Stokes-Draut, Jennifer; Taptich, Michael; Kavvada, Olga
- Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 12, Issue 11
Mapping water consumption for energy production around the Pacific Rim
journal, September 2016
- Tidwell, Vincent; Moreland, Barbie
- Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 9