A Literature Review on the Human Dimension in Water-Energy Nexus
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2022
ABSTRACT
Water-energy nexus (WEN) refers to the close interdependencies between water and energy resources and infrastructure. Despite the existing efforts on studying WEN from the technological, economic, and policy dimensions, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the human dimension and the role it plays in WEN. To fill the knowledge gap, the objective of this study is to provide an overview of the human dimension in WEN. Key information regarding human aspects in WEN was extracted from 58 publications including journal articles and conference papers. According to the literature review, humans in WEN can be classified into three categories: end-users, operators, and decision-makers. Most of the current studies focused on end-users and decision-makers. Few studies have investigated operators’ behaviors and their impacts on WEN. Different methods, including interview, case study, data analysis, and simulation have been used to assess the human dimension in the literature. However, most of them fail to capture the dynamic human-WEN interactions in uncertain environments. Finally, different interventions on humans, such as policy initiatives, fiscal measures, and marketing strategies, were identified in the literature. The literature review provided an overview of how human dimension is currently considered in WEN and identified several important knowledge gaps, such as inadequacy of incorporating operators’ behaviors, dynamic behaviors, and interactions of humans under uncertain environments, and the effects of multifaceted interventions of human aspects into consideration. Identifying and addressing these knowledge gaps could facilitate a more integrated framework for studying WEN.
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Construction Research Congress 2022
Pages: 608 - 617
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Published online: Mar 7, 2022
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