Solar and wind energy enhances drought resilience and groundwater sustainability
Solar and wind energy enhances drought resilience and groundwater sustainability
Water scarcity brings tremendous challenges to achieving sustainable development of water resources, food, and energy security, as these sectors are often in competition, especially during drought. Overcoming these challenges requires balancing trade-offs between sectors and improving resilience to drought impacts. An under-appreciated factor in managing the water-food-energy (WFE) nexus is the increased value of solar and wind energy (SWE). Here we develop a trade-off frontier framework to quantify the water sustainability value of SWE through a case study in California. We identify development pathways that optimize the economic value of water in competition for energy and food production while ensuring sustainable use of groundwater. Our results indicate that in the long term, SWE penetration creates beneficial feedback for the WFE nexus: SWE enhances drought resilience and benefits groundwater sustainability, and in turn, maintaining groundwater at a sustainable level increases the added value of SWE to energy and food production.
1-8
He, Xiaogang
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Feng, Kairui
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Li, Xiaoyuan
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Craft, Amy B.
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Wada, Yoshihide
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Burek, Peter
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Wood, Eric F.
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Sheffield, Justin
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2019
He, Xiaogang
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Feng, Kairui
6fcc5605-7a05-4132-a1af-ea28555bcea2
Li, Xiaoyuan
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Craft, Amy B.
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Wada, Yoshihide
682ed230-5586-496a-b105-ee06ac3d6a8b
Burek, Peter
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Wood, Eric F.
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Sheffield, Justin
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He, Xiaogang, Feng, Kairui, Li, Xiaoyuan, Craft, Amy B., Wada, Yoshihide, Burek, Peter, Wood, Eric F. and Sheffield, Justin
(2019)
Solar and wind energy enhances drought resilience and groundwater sustainability.
Nature Communications, 10, , [4893].
(doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12810-5).
Abstract
Water scarcity brings tremendous challenges to achieving sustainable development of water resources, food, and energy security, as these sectors are often in competition, especially during drought. Overcoming these challenges requires balancing trade-offs between sectors and improving resilience to drought impacts. An under-appreciated factor in managing the water-food-energy (WFE) nexus is the increased value of solar and wind energy (SWE). Here we develop a trade-off frontier framework to quantify the water sustainability value of SWE through a case study in California. We identify development pathways that optimize the economic value of water in competition for energy and food production while ensuring sustainable use of groundwater. Our results indicate that in the long term, SWE penetration creates beneficial feedback for the WFE nexus: SWE enhances drought resilience and benefits groundwater sustainability, and in turn, maintaining groundwater at a sustainable level increases the added value of SWE to energy and food production.
Text
s41467-019-12810-5
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 30 September 2019
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 November 2019
Published date: 2019
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 441510
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441510
ISSN: 2041-1723
PURE UUID: dfca07dd-490d-4e7e-b856-617d9e1d1adc
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Date deposited: 16 Jun 2020 16:34
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:40
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Contributors
Author:
Xiaogang He
Author:
Kairui Feng
Author:
Xiaoyuan Li
Author:
Amy B. Craft
Author:
Yoshihide Wada
Author:
Peter Burek
Author:
Eric F. Wood
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