Looming Water Shortages Cut in Favor of Renewable Energy
WSJ has an interesting article today about the influence that dwindling water resources is having on the trend towards developing more renewable energy sources. Water is commonly overshadowed by greenhouse gas emissions in the discussion about dirty power versus renewable power. However, consumption of water by traditional power plants is a gigantic environmental issue. In fact, as the WSJ notes, “the electric-power industry accounts for nearly half of all water withdrawals in the U.S., with agricultural irrigation coming in a distant second at about 35%.”
Although most of this water is eventually recycled back into nearby lakes or streams, 2-3% is lost by evaporation, and the heat from the water released back into the natural environment can be detrimental to surrounding life.
As a result of these concerns, the power industry has been looking more closely at renewable plants, such as wind farms, as alternatives to traditional power sources. This is because most renewable energy plants use a tiny fraction of the amount of water extracted by dirty plants.
According to one study, “a megawatt hour of electricity produced by a wind turbine can save 200 to 600 gallons of water compared with the amount required by a modern gas-fired power plant to make that same amount.”
This fact, coupled with concerns over climate change, makes it even more obvious that the electricity generation industry must move away from dirty energy and towards renewables once and for all.
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