Jin Yi, Feng Cuiyang, Yuan Rong, Yang Jialiang, Behrens Paul
Institute of Industrial Economics, School of Finance and Economics, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, Jiangsu, China.
School of Management, China University of Mining & Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2024 May 7;58(18):7838-7848. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.3c10455. Epub 2024 Apr 24.
Large volumes of water are used in energy production for both primary (e.g., fuel extraction) and secondary energy (e.g., electricity). In countries such as China, with a large internal trade in fuels and long-distance transmission grids, this can result in considerable water inequalities. Previous research focused on the water impacts of energy production at the national and provincial levels, which is too coarse to identify the spatial differences and make specific case studies. Here, we take the next step toward a spatially explicit economically integrated water-use for energy assessment by combining a bottom-up assessment approach with a city-level multiregional input-output model. Specifically, we examine the water consumption of energy production in China, distinguishing between water for primary and secondary energy at the level of coal mines, oil and gas fields, and power plants for the first time. Of the total energy-related freshwater consumption of 4.9 Gm in 2017, primary energy accounted for 19% (940 Mm) and secondary energy accounted for 81% (3955 Mm). Coal was the largest water consumer for both primary and secondary energy (540 and 3880 Mm, respectively), with both oil (361, and 0.5 Mm, respectively) and gas (7 and 69 Mm, respectively) also consuming large amounts. Intercity virtual water, that is, water embodied in energy trade across cities, reached 54% (2.6 Gm) of energy-related freshwater consumption. Across China, 32% of cities see a bilateral trade in secondary- and primary-energy-related virtual water (e.g., Daqing city exports virtual water embodied in primary fuel to other cities that is then used to produce electricity in those cities, part of which is used back in Daqing via transmission). For these 32% of cities, 73% export more virtual water than import and 27% import more virtual water than export. This study reveals significant differences in city-level virtual water patterns (e.g., scale and direction) between primary and secondary energy to provide information for cities about their virtual water inflow and outflow and the potential collaboration partners for water management.
大量的水用于一次能源（如燃料开采）和二次能源（如电力）的生产。在中国等国家，由于燃料内部贸易量大且有长途输电网络，这可能导致相当大的水资源不平等。以往的研究侧重于国家和省级层面能源生产对水的影响，这种层面过于粗略，无法识别空间差异并进行具体案例研究。在此，我们通过将自下而上的评估方法与城市层面的多区域投入产出模型相结合，朝着空间明确的经济一体化能源用水评估迈出了下一步。具体而言，我们首次在中国区分煤矿、油气田和发电厂层面的一次能源用水和二次能源用水，研究能源生产的用水情况。2017年与能源相关的淡水总消耗量为490亿立方米，其中一次能源占19%（94亿立方米），二次能源占81%（395.5亿立方米）。煤炭是一次能源和二次能源的最大用水户（分别为540亿立方米和3880亿立方米），石油（分别为361亿立方米和0.5亿立方米）和天然气（分别为7亿立方米和69亿立方米）的用水量也很大。城市间虚拟水，即跨城市能源贸易中蕴含的水，占与能源相关的淡水消耗量的54%（260亿立方米）。在中国，32%的城市存在二次能源和一次能源相关虚拟水的双边贸易（例如，大庆市将一次燃料中蕴含的虚拟水出口到其他城市，这些城市再用其发电，其中一部分又通过输电回到大庆使用）。对于这32%的城市，73%的城市虚拟水出口量大于进口量，27%的城市虚拟水进口量大于出口量。这项研究揭示了一次能源和二次能源在城市层面虚拟水模式（如规模和方向）上的显著差异，为城市提供其虚拟水流入和流出以及水资源管理潜在合作伙伴的信息。
