More Renewables And Efficiency Would Greatly Help Solve U.S. Water Problems

[kristopher]

Study: More Renewables And Efficiency Would Greatly Help Solve U.S. Water Problems
by NA Windpower Thursday July 18 2013

...

“In our water-constrained world, a 20-year delay in tackling the problem leaves the power industry unnecessarily vulnerable to drought and exacerbates competition with other water users,” says John Rogers, co-manager of EW3. “We can bring water use down faster and further, but only by changing how we get our electricity.”

According to the study, more than 40% of the U.S.’ freshwater withdrawals are used for power plant cooling. These plants also lose several billion gallons of freshwater every day through evaporation. Furthermore, the report says increasing demand and drought are putting a greater strain on water resources.

...

However, according to the report, a pathway that includes strong investments in renewables and energy efficiency would greatly reduce power generation’s water use and carbon emission.

Under such a scenario, water withdrawals would drop by 97% from current levels by 2050, with most of that drop within the next 20 years. The study says that approach would also cut carbon emissions 90% from current levels, mostly in the near term. A renewables path would also be a much cheaper path for consumers, the report adds.

http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.11788#utm_medium=email&utm_source=LNH+07-19-2013&utm_campaign=NAW+News+Headlines


You can download the Union of Concerned Scientists study here:
http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/water-smart-power-0394.html

[BlueStreak]

1. Beyond that, surplus wind and solar caould be used to desalinate

We need to throw out all the old rules. A simple truth is that there is more than enough wind and solar energy to do EVERYTHING that humans want to do on this planet without a single coal, gas, or nuke plant. Wind is already economical. The barriers are entirely artificial, legals ones (and just the time it takes to manufacture and deploy tens of thousands of windmills.)

There is an issue with leveling the load, but that is only an issue if the system is designed to barely cover peak capacity. It doesn't have to be that way. The system can be designed to exceed peak demand by 10-20%. And that excess energy can be used to store excess energy kinetically or chemically (air pressure, elevated water, hydrogen, batteries, flywheels, etc.)

Another thing that can help level the grid would be to make the largest energy consumers intermittent users. Such could definitely be the case with desalinization plants. All that is required is to build large storage tanks for the clean water. You run the desal plants when the wind and solar are producing above normal demand. You slow the desal plants or stop them altogether when the power is needed elsewhere.

There is plenty of water. You just have to remove the salt, and that takes energy. But there is plenty of energy. We just have to capture it. It is not a technical problem. The barriers are all political.

[cprise]

2. IEEE Spectrum article:

Collision Between Water and Energy Is Underway, and Worsening

http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/fossil-fuels/collision-between-water-and-energy-is-underway-and-worsening

[kristopher]

5. Thank you very much for adding that - it's excellent.

A peak:

[cprise]

6. Warming bay water threatens to shut down Plymouth nuclear reactor

http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/07/18/warming-bay-water-threatens-shut-down-nuclear-reactor/0D3wT0RuOCwVRWkAhi3J1L/story.html

The current heat wave is threatening to shut down the nuclear power plant in Plymouth, as water used to cool the system nears limits on safe temperature.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that the water drawn from Cape Cod Bay to cool the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station be below 75 degrees. On Tuesday afternoon, the water exceeded that mark for about 90 minutes, forcing the plant to reduce power output temporarily.

snip

“No one could envision a scenario where water temperatures would exceed these limits,” Sheehan said.

Seems like more plants will get added to that chart.

[NickB79]

7. “No one could envision a scenario"

Get ready to hear that phrase a lot more in the next few years.

And yes, some forward-looking people HAVE been envisioning these scenarios, for years. It's just that no one listens to them.

[Nihil]

11. Also true ...

> And yes, some forward-looking people HAVE been envisioning these scenarios,
> for years. It's just that no one listens to them.

Don't you find that it's a strange coincidence how the corporate deafness suddenly
comes on just after the cost of fixing/avoiding the problem is raised?

Bean-counters FTW!

[quadrature]

3. easier solution... don't live in Las Vegas...

stop trying to grow watermelons
in a bone-dry desert

[msongs]

4. if you would all quit eating meat that would be a huge saving for our water supplies nt

[dbackjon]

8. Or they could convert to using treated waste water

Like Palo Verde does in the Arizona desert.

[kristopher]

9. What is the cost of redesign and rebuilding?

Both coal and nuclear are already facing an unfavorable economic environment, your suggestion would probably force the close of most of the affected plants.

[dbackjon]

10. The main cost would be on the supply end

Once the water is treated, it can be piped in and used like any other coolant. It could be linked directly to whatever intake they currently used, or just straight to the cooling towers. You shouldn't need to rebuild anything.

In Phoenix Metro, the 91st Ave Wastewater Plant treats the water (cost born those generating the waste). It used to just release the water into the dry Gila River bed. Now, they sell the waste water to Palo Verde (and other users), and the unsold goes into specially created wetlands for ground water recharge.