An Environmental and Societal Analysis of the US Electrical Energy Industry Based on the Water–Energy Nexus

Shirkey, Gabriela; Belongeay, Megan; Wu, Susie; Ma, Xiaoguang; Tavakol, Hassan; Anctil, Annick; Marquette-Pyatt, Sandra; Stewart, Rodney A.; Sinha, Parikith; Corkish, Richard; Chen, Jiquan; Celik, Ilke

doi:10.3390/en14092633

Title: An Environmental and Societal Analysis of the US Electrical Energy Industry Based on the Water–Energy Nexus

Journal Article · Tue May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Energies (Basel)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/en14092633· OSTI ID:1804473

Shirkey, Gabriela ^[1]; Belongeay, Megan ^[2]; Wu, Susie ^[3]; Ma, Xiaoguang ^[4];

^[5];

^[1]; Marquette-Pyatt, Sandra ^[1];

^[6];

^[7];

^[8];

^[1];

^[9]

Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Univ. of Wisconsin, Platteville, WI (United States)
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing (China)
Harbin Institute of Technology (China)
San Diego State Univ., CA (United States)
Griffith Univ., Brisbane, QLD (Australia)
First Solar, Tempe, AZ (United States)
Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia)
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD (United States)

To meet rising energy demands, power plant operations will expand, influencing the interactions between the water–energy nexus and society. However, a major challenge is integration of social dimensions within electricity generation. To address this, we generate a baseline dataset using US public data (2014–2019) from the Energy Information Administration and US Bureau of Labor Statistics. We identify the rate of energy consumed, CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x emissions generated, and water used per MWh net electricity as well as employee wellbeing per unit MW capacity during electricity generation. Rates of energy consumption (MMBtu/MWh) decreased 4.9%, but water consumption and withdrawal (m³/MWh) both increased 0.93% and 0.31%, respectively. Emissions of CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x decreased 22.64%, 75% and 25% MT/MWh, respectively. Thermoelectric cooling withdrawal and consumption is led by natural gas (50.07%, 38.31%), coal (29.61%, 25.07%), and nuclear energies (13.55%, 18.99%). Electric power generation contributes 0.06 injuries–illnesses/TWh and 0.001 fatalities/TWh, of which fossil fuels contributed 70% and 15%, respectively. Fossil fuels led in average annual employment (0.02 employees/MW) with low cost salaries (USD 0.09/MW) likely due to high collective capacity, which is declining. Estimated rates in this study and framework will aid power industry transition and operational decision makers.

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Research Organization:: Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), Madison, WI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0018409; FC02-07ER64494; DBI-1639145; DGE-1848739

OSTI ID:: 1804473

Journal Information:: Energies (Basel), Vol. 14, Issue 9; ISSN 1996-1073

Publisher:: MDPI AGCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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