• Energy Research

Model for the evolution of the Water-Energy Nexus in Spain

Supplementary Data

This book deals with the inversely-related interdependencies of the Eurasian region’s water, energy and environmental matters. The inversely-related interdependency between energy and the environment is more visible in water resources management since water is a central component of both the ecological system and hydropower production systems. In fact, increases in the use of energy and water resources tend to result in the intensification of environmental problems. The adoption of more effective environmental protection policies requires a reduction in energy production and consumption, and this inverse relationship makes achieving sustainability –a critical criterion in any long-term development strategy – an even more difficult target. Kapadokya Üniversitesi

This data included the detailed mathematical description of the model and all the data adopted in the model

One third of the global carbon emissions are emitted by the building sector. Over the last decades, space heating loads have decreased in modern buildings, and domestic hot water (DHW) is now oftentimes the largest energy consumer in the household. We developed the WaterHub modeling framework to assess the potential of technologies or measures targeting DHW energy demand. The framework combines process-based technological models and stochastic water demand modeling in a modular way to allow for holistic simulations of complex DHW systems. In two rigorous tests of the modeling framework, we demonstrated the importance of water consumption dynamics in the modeling of DHW systems, showing that static modeling leads to underestimated heat losses and wrong energy consumption predictions. In an exemplary case study, we identified and quantified the synergistic interactions between water boiler temperatures and a drain water heat recovery device, demonstrating the strength of this methodology for optimizing strategies targeting DHW systems. With its modular structure, this open-source modeling framework can be extended to include any DHW-related technology, providing a useful common platform for collaboration between technology developers and water experts. Energy and Buildings, 225 ISSN:1872-6178 ISSN:0378-7788

© 2015, Yale University. Using data from the water service area of the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Northern California, we develop and discuss a method for assessing, at a high resolution, the energy intensity of water treated and delivered to customers of a major metropolitan water district. This method extends previous efforts by integrating hourly data from supervisory control and data acquisition systems with calculations based on the actual structure of the engineered infrastructure to produce a detailed understanding of energy use in space and time within the territory of a large-scale urban water provider. We found significant variations in the energy intensity of delivered potable water resulting from seasonal and topographic effects. This method enhances our understanding of the energy inputs for potable water systems and can be applied to the entire delivery and postuse water life cycle. A nuanced understanding of water's energy intensity in an urban setting enables more intelligent, targeted efforts to jointly conserve water and energy resources that take seasonal, distance, and elevation effects into account.

The interlinkages between water, energy and food are especially evident in the Middle East, perhaps more than in other regions in the world. Generally, the region is notable for being energy intensive, water scarce, food deficient, and one of the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change (Lange, 2019). Despite those common characteristics, each country shows specific climatic, ecological and socioeconomic features, which influence the complex interactions of the WEF nexus and affect states' ability to meet their water, food and energy needs. As several nexus studies conducted in the Middle East point out, the need to meet the rapidly growing demand for water, energy and food in an increasingly resource-constrained scenario (FAO, 2018; Borgomeo et al., 2018), associated with WEF conventional policy and decision making in "silos", has fuelled a vicious circle that has ended up favouring trade-offs rather than amplifying synergies between sectors (Shannak, Mabrey & Vittorio, 2018). Furthermore, environment and security are strictly interlinked in the region implying the need to add the security dimension to the nexus. This chapter has three main objectives. First, to analyse the water-energy (WE) nexus challenges and associated risks in the Middle East. Second, to describe what it actually means to render water and energy in terms of security exploring the water-energy-security (WES) nexus and the linkages between nexus and securitisation. Third, to highlight the opportunities in terms of water and energy security arising from turning the nexus into a virtuous circle. Results from case studies are also discussed.

Evaporative cooling systems consume high water, but low electricity for their operation. On the other hand, vapor compression systems consume no water, but high electricity. Water and energy systems are interconnected at different levels. Therefore, water use causes an off-site electricity use, and also electricity use results to off-site water use. Therefore, there is a strong trade-off between electricity and water use in these cooling systems. Depending on the water and electricity mix of the region, this tradeoff is very region-specific. This research aims to use a nexus thinking to quantify this trade-off and identify the proper cooling strategy for energy-poor and water-poor regions. A dynamic hourly simulation was performed to evaluate the hourly on-site and off-site water and energy use by two systems for the summer season in Tehran. It resulted that heat pump system consumes both higher water and electricity than the evaporative system, which is resulted by high water intensity of the electricity mix in Iran. Results show the importance of nexus thinking to prevent shifting problems from one sector to another.