At the crossroad between green and thirsty: carbon emissions and water consumption of Spanish thermoelectricity generation, 1969–2019

Cano-Rodríguez, Sara; Rubio Varas, María del Mar; Sesma Martín, Diego

Publication:
At the crossroad between green and thirsty: carbon emissions and water consumption of Spanish thermoelectricity generation, 1969–2019

dc.contributor.author	Cano-Rodríguez, Sara	es_ES
dc.contributor.author	Rubio Varas, María del Mar
dc.contributor.author	Sesma Martín, Diego
dc.contributor.department	Institute for Advanced Research in Business and Economics - INARBE	en
dc.date.accessioned	2022-04-07T07:47:46Z
dc.date.available	2022-04-07T07:47:46Z
dc.date.issued	2022
dc.description.abstract	The energy sector is the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and one of the thirstiest sectors worldwide. Within the energy sector, thermoelectricity directly impacts on both emissions and water. This study assesses the evolution of the direct CO2 emissions and operational water consumption of the Spanish thermoelectricity generation from 1969 to 2019. Both carbon emissions and water consumption correlate over time, led by the trends in total thermal generation, although over the past half century, water requirements swelled far more than carbon emissions. This results in a long-term trade-off between carbon emissions and consumptive water use in relative terms: while the CO2 per thermal MWh generated halved since 1969 in Spain, the operational water consumption per MWh of thermoelectricity generated more than doubled due to switching from coal burning to nuclear and combined cycle technologies. We find no real trade-off in absolute levels. Although moving towards smaller environmental impacts since the mid-2000s, thermoelectricity remains one of the largest carbon emitters while becoming one of thirstiest energy technologies in Spain.	en
dc.description.sponsorship	This publication has been supported by the grant HAR2017-860086-R funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by 'ERDF A way of making Europe'. Sara Cano-Rodríguez benefits from the doctoral research contract reference PER2018-085704. Sesma-Martín also benefits from the research contract reference 1295/2019. Both assigned to the History and Economics Group from UPNA.	en
dc.format.extent	14 p.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107363
dc.identifier.issn	0921-8009
dc.identifier.uri	https://academica-e.unavarra.es/handle/2454/42678
dc.language.iso	eng	en
dc.publisher	Elsevier	en
dc.relation.ispartof	Ecological Economics, 195 (2022) 107363	en
dc.relation.projectID	info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2013-2016/HAR2017-86086-R/ES/	en
dc.relation.publisherversion	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107363
dc.rights	© 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.	es_ES
dc.rights.accessRights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess	en
dc.rights.accessRights	Acceso abierto / Sarbide irekia	es
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subject	Carbon emissions	en
dc.subject	Decarbonization	en
dc.subject	Environmental impacts	en
dc.subject	Spain	en
dc.subject	Thermoelectricity sector	en
dc.subject	Water consumption	en
dc.title	At the crossroad between green and thirsty: carbon emissions and water consumption of Spanish thermoelectricity generation, 1969–2019	en
dc.type	info:eu-repo/semantics/article	en
dc.type	Artículo / Artikulua	es
dc.type.version	info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion	en
dc.type.version	Versión publicada / Argitaratu den bertsioa	es
dspace.entity.type	Publication
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