COPENMIND 2008
1-3. September 2008
ENERGY AND WATER FOOTPRINTS -
Linking water management sustainable development and energy consumption
This session will mainly look into the water footprint of energy production and ways how to reduce it from different perspectives.
Presentations
Water for energy – Energy for water
Henrik Larsen, DHI Water Policy, Denmark
Small Hydro power: Energy and Water
Christer Söderberg, ESHA (European Small Hydropower Association), Belgium
The Climate footprint on the water sector
Adriana Hulsmann, KIWA Water Research, The Netherlands
Some indirect footprints on water from the energy sector
Per Gundersen, University of Copenhagen, Forest & Landscape, Denmark
Timetable for the process towards COP 15
Agnés Vaillier, EWP
The links between water and energy are often overlooked in the debate about climate change. The impact of different forms of energy production on water availability and quality is one aspect of this. Another aspect is the energy consumption related to different forms of water use and infrastructure. Hydropower is an energy form that is quite low in CO2 emissions, but it has a large consumption of water due to evapo-transpiration especially in warm climate.
With climate change increasing water availability in dry areas this link is increasingly important. In EU today it has been estimated that 30% of freshwater withdrawals is for energy production and even today there are problems related to this. During the drought in 2005 hydropower fell to its lowest in 48 years. France, Spain, and Germany were forced to take some nuclear plants offline and reduce operations at others, and all across Western Europe, nuclear plants were forced to discharge overheated water into the environment.
The concept of footprints was originally developed to resource footprints of different products, but it has been developed further to look into water footprints of all kinds of products as a way of estimating the amount of water consumed to provide a good or service. They can be used to assist in the decision-making process regarding the application of different energy options.
Energy sector changes may also have indirect footprints on water through land use changes. Deforestation to capture CO2 and short rotation forestry for biomass production may change the water cycle, since forest often have higher evapo-transpiration than agricultural crops.