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| Titel |
The blue water footprint of electricity from hydropower |
| VerfasserIn |
M. M. Mekonnen, A. Y. Hoekstra |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1027-5606
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ; 16, no. 1 ; Nr. 16, no. 1 (2012-01-20), S.179-187 |
| Datensatznummer |
250013121
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/hess-16-179-2012.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Hydropower accounts for about 16% of the world's electricity supply. It
has been debated whether hydroelectric generation is merely an in-stream
water user or whether it also consumes water. In this paper we provide
scientific support for the argument that hydroelectric generation is in most
cases a significant water consumer. The study assesses the blue water
footprint of hydroelectricity – the water evaporated from manmade
reservoirs to produce electric energy – for 35 selected sites. The
aggregated blue water footprint of the selected hydropower plants is
90 Gm3 yr−1, which is equivalent to 10% of the blue water footprint of
global crop production in the year 2000. The total blue water footprint of
hydroelectric generation in the world must be considerably larger if one
considers the fact that this study covers only 8% of the global installed
hydroelectric capacity. Hydroelectric generation is thus a significant water
consumer. The average water footprint of the selected hydropower plants is
68 m3 GJ−1. Great differences in water footprint among hydropower plants
exist, due to differences in climate in the places where the plants are
situated, but more importantly as a result of large differences in the area
flooded per unit of installed hydroelectric capacity. We recommend that
water footprint assessment is added as a component in evaluations of newly
proposed hydropower plants as well as in the evaluation of existing
hydroelectric dams, so that the consequences of the water footprint of
hydroelectric generation on downstream environmental flows and other water
users can be evaluated. |
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