Horizontal cooling towers
Riverine ecosystem services and the fate of thermoelectric heat in the contemporary Northeast US
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15548732 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert J Stewart, Robert Stewart (0000-0002-6326-915X, University of New Hampshire, corresponding author), W M Wollheim (0000-0002-5009-3212, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources), Ariel Miara (0000-0001-7089-4765, City University of New York), Charles J Vörösmarty (0000-0002-4661-4409), Balázs Fekete (0000-0001-5201-0647), B M Fekete (0000-0002-8624-3016, City College of New York), Richard B Lammers (0000-0002-7980-5834, University of New Hampshire), B Rosenzweig (0000-0002-4888-3653, City University of New York) |
| Year | 2013 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 025010-025010 |
| Publication date | 2013-04-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/8/2/025010 |
| OpenAlex | W2079513773 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 40 |
The electricity sector is dependent on rivers to provide ecosystem services that help regulate excess heat, either through provision of water for evaporative cooling or by conveying, diluting and attenuating waste heat inputs. Reliance on these ecosystem services alters flow and temperature regimes, which impact fish habitat and other aquatic ecosystem services. We demonstrate the contemporary (2000–2010) dependence of the electricity sector on riverine ecosystem services and associated aquatic impacts in the Northeast US, a region with a high density of thermoelectric power plants. We quantify these dynamics using a spatially distributed hydrology and water temperature model (the framework for aquatic modeling in the Earth system), coupled with the thermoelectric power and thermal pollution model. We find that 28.4% of thermoelectric heat production is transferred to rivers, whereas 25.9% is directed to vertical cooling towers. Regionally, only 11.3% of heat transferred to rivers is dissipated to the atmosphere and the rest is delivered to coasts, in part due to the distribution of power plants within the river system. Impacts to the flow regime are minimal, while impacts to the thermal regime include increased river lengths of unsuitable habitats for fish with maximum thermal tolerances of 24.0, 29.0, and 34.0 ° C in segments downstream of plants by 0.6%, 9.8%, and 53.9%, respectively. Our analysis highlights the interactions among electricity production, cooling technologies, aquatic impacts, and ecosystem services, and can be used to assess the full costs and tradeoffs of electricity production at regional scales
Aquatic ecosystem · Ecosystem · Ecosystem services · Electricity · Electricity generation · Habitat · Hydrology (agriculture · Physics · Power (physics · Thermal pollution · Waste heat · Environmental Science · Fish Ecology and Management Studies · Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies · Water-Energy-Food Nexus Studies · Ecology · Environmental Engineering · Geology
Vulnerabilities and opportunities at the nexus of electricity, water and climate
Bridging a gap
Energy sector water use implications of a 2 °C climate policy
Unprecedented acceleration of winter discharge of Upper Yenisei River inferred from tree rings
Riverine ecosystem services and the thermoelectric sector
Integrated impacts of future electricity mix scenarios on select southeastern US water resources
The greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption, and heat emissions of global steam-electric power production
Thermal pollution impacts on rivers and power supply in the Mississippi River watershed
Thermal effluent from the power sector
Institutional adaptation to cooling water scarcity for thermoelectric power generation under global warming
| Citations per year | 0.77 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2013 - 2026 (14) |
| Highly cited | No |