Life-Cycle Energy Analysis of a Water Distribution System
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 10, Issue 3
Abstract
The paper presents a life-cycle energy analysis (LCEA) to quantify energy expenditures in the fabrication, use, and end-of-life stages of the pipes of a water distribution system. The methodology incorporates the capabilities of environmental input-output life-cycle analysis to quantify the energy required to fabricate pipes. The EPANET2 hydraulic model is applied in conjunction with a pipe-aging model to calculate the theoretical energy recovery in the use stage. An exponential pipe-break model is applied to quantify the energy required to repair pipe breaks during the use stage of a system. Simple formulations are developed to estimate the energy required to dispose of and recycle pipes once their service period has expired. The LCEA methodology is then applied to the New York City (NYC) water supply tunnels example to quantify energy expenditures in four planning scenarios with 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-year pipe replacement frequencies. The results of the NYC example highlight the tension between the energy costs incurred in the fabrication and end-of-life stages of a system and those incurred in the use stage. A pipe-replacement period roughly equal to 50 years yielded the lowest overall energy expenditure in the three life stages. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the influence of uncertain system parameters on energy expenditure estimates.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
American Water Works Association (AWWA) California Section. (1962). “Loss of carrying capacity in water mains.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 54(10), 1293–1312.
Carnegie Mellon University. (2003). “Economic input-output life cycle assessment (EIO-LCA) model.” Green Design Institute, 〈http://www.eiolca.net/〉 (November 7, 2003).
Clark, R. M., Stafford, C. L., and Goodrich, J. A.(1982). “Water distribution systems: A spatial and cost evaluation.” J. Water Resour. Plan. Manage., 108(3), 243–256.
Colombo, A. F., and Karney, B. W.(2002). “Energy and costs of leaky pipes: Toward comprehensive picture.” J. Water Resour. Plan. Manage., 128(6), 441–450.
Dandy, G. C., Simpson, A. R., and Murphy, L. J.(1996). “An improved genetic algorithm for pipe network optimization.” Water Resour. Res., 32(2), 449–458.
Dennison, F. J., Azapagic, A., Clift, R., and Colbourne, J. S.(1998). “Assessing management options for wastewater treatment works in the context of life cycle assessment.” Water Sci. Technol., 38(11), 23–30.
Dennison, F. J., Azapagic, A., Clift, R., and Colbourne, J. S.(1999). “Life cycle assessment: Comparing strategic options for the mains infrastructure—Part I.” Water Sci. Technol., 39(10–11), 315–319.
Freyermuth, C.(2001). “Life-cycle cost analysis for large segmental bridges.” Concr. Int., 23(2), 89–95.
Geyer, R., Jackson, T., and Clift, R. (2002). “Economic and environmental comparison between recycling and reuse of structural steel sections.” Int. Iron and Steel Institute World Conf., 13–18.
Hocking, M. B. (1999). “Net energy expenditure: A method for assessing the environmental impact of technologies.” Measures of environmental performance and ecosystem condition, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.
Horvath, A., and Hendrickson, C.(1998). “Steel versus steel-reinforced concrete bridges: Environmental assessment.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 4(3), 111–117.
Hudson, W. D.(1966a). “Loss of water main capacity.” J. Southeastern AWWA Sec., 30(1), 44–54.
Hudson, W. D.(1966b). “Studies of distribution system capacity in seven cities.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 58(2), 157–164.
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (1998). ISO 14000 environmental management, 58(2), Geneva.
Kleiner, Y., Adams, B. J., and Rogers, J. S.(1998). “Long-term planning methodology for water distribution system rehabilitation.” Water Resour. Res., 34(8), 2039–2051.
Kleiner, Y., and Rajani, B.(1999). “Using limited data to assess future needs.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 91(7), 47–61.
Lamont, P. A.(1981). “Common pipe flow formulas compared with theory of roughness.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 73(5), 274–280.
Lovins, A. B. (1989). “The negawatt revolution: Solving the problem.” Green Energy Conf., Canadian Council for Nuclear Responsibility, Montréal.
Lundin, M., Bengtsson, M., and Molander, S.(2000). “Life cycle assessment of wastewater systems: Influence of system boundaries and scale on calculated environmental loads.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34(1), 180–186.
Mohammadi, J., Guralnick, S. A., and Yan, L.(1995). “Incorporating life-cycle in highway-bridge planning and design.” J. Transp. Eng., 121(5), 417–424.
Ries, R., and Mahdavi, A.(2001). “Integrated computational life-cycle assessment of buildings.” J. Comput. Civ. Eng., 15(1), 59–66.
Rossman, L. A. (2000). EPANET 2: User’s manual, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati.
Salem, O., AbouRizk, S., and Ariaratnam, S.(2003). “Risk-based life-cycle costing of infrastructure rehabilitation and construction alternatives.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 9(1), 6–15.
Savic, D. A., and Walters, G. A.(1997). “Evolving sustainable water networks.” Hydrol. Sci. J., 42(4), 549–564.
Shamir, U., and Howard, C. D. D.(1979). “An analytic approach to scheduling pipe replacement.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 71(5), 248–258.
Sharp, W. W., and Walski, T. M.(1988). “Predicting internal roughness in water mains.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 80(11), 34–40.
Skipworth, P., Engelhardt, M., Cashman, A., Savic, D., Saul, A., and Walters, G. (2002). Whole life costing for water distribution network management, Thomas Telford, London.
Thake, J. (2000). Micro-hydro Pelton turbine manual, ITDG Publishing, London.
Tsagarakis, K. P., Mara, D. D., and Angelakis, A.(2003). “Application of cost criteria for selection of municipal wastewater treatment systems.” Water, Air, Soil Pollut., 142(1–4), 187–210.
U. S. Bureau of the Census. (2000). Statistical abstract of the United States (1921–2000), Washington, D.C.
U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). (2003). Historical statistics for mineral commodities in the United States (computer file), Reston, Va.
Walski, T. M., and Pelliccia, A.(1982). “Economic analysis of water main breaks.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 74(3), 140–147.
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). (1987). Our common future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 10 • Issue 3 • September 2004
Pages: 120 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 2, 2003
Accepted: Feb 19, 2004
Published online: Aug 16, 2004
Published in print: Sep 2004
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.