Energy鈥檚 Thirst for Water in China

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Beiming Cai ; Bing Zhang ; Jun Bi ; Wenjing Zhang
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：October 21, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：48
• 期：20
• 页码：11760-11768
• 全文大小：522K
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

Water scarcity and uneven water distribution pose significant challenges to sustainable development and energy production in China. Based on the International Energy Agency (IEA)鈥檚 energy strategy scenarios for China, we evaluated the water withdrawal for energy production from 2011 to 2030. The results show that the amount of water withdrawal will be increased by 77% in 2030, which will aggravate China鈥檚 water scarcity risk under current energy strategy. We also observed that 67% of the energy production in China occurs in areas that are facing water scarcity. Moreover, China鈥檚 12th Five-Year Plan of Energy Development does not change the existing energy strategies, and the planned total energy production is much higher than the IEA鈥檚 projection, which will result in an increased demand for water resources. However, if China were to apply broad policies to reduce CO₂ emissions, the amount of water withdrawal would also decline compared with current energy strategy. Thus, reforming China鈥檚 energy structure and reducing energy usage are not only urgent because of climate challenges and air pollution but also essential to reducing the pressure of water scarcity.