Life-Cycle Assessment of Urban Water Provision: Tool and Case Study in California
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 17, Issue 1
Abstract
The exploration of life-cycle energy use and environmental effects from U.S. water infrastructure has been limited in spite of the strong connection between energy and water use. This research presents a methodology for quantifying the life-cycle energy consumption and associated air emissions from water supply, treatment, and distribution. A decision-support tool, the Water-Energy Sustainability Tool (WEST), has been developed to aid such analysis. WEST calculates the environmental effects of material production, including the supply chain, material delivery and transportation, construction and maintenance equipment use, energy production, and sludge disposal. Deterministic and probabilistic results for a California case study utility are provided to show the tool’s capabilities. Results indicate that producing a million liters of water consumes 5.4 GJ and produces 390 kg of -equivalent greenhouse gases. Energy production is the most significant activity (50%), but material production, especially for treatment chemicals, is also important (37%). This case study is contrasted with two previously published case study utilities, and the reasons for the range of results are analyzed. The results demonstrate that estimating water supply’s energy needs and emissions without a life-cycle lens can underestimate the total effects significantly.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the California Energy Commission under Contract UNSPECIFIEDMR-06-08.
This report was prepared as a result of work sponsored by the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission) and the University of California (UC). It does not necessarily represent the views of the Energy Commission, UC, their employees, or the State of California. The Energy Commission, the State of California, its employees, and UC make no warranty, express or implied, and assume no legal liability for the information in this report; nor does any party represent that the use of this information will not infringe upon privately owned rights. This report has not been approved or disapproved by the Energy Commission or UC, nor has the Energy Commission or UC passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the information in this report.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 17 • Issue 1 • March 2011
Pages: 15 - 24
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 20, 2009
Accepted: Jun 22, 2010
Published online: Sep 22, 2010
Published in print: Mar 1, 2011
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