Unlocking the Impacts of COVID-19 Lockdowns: Changes in Thermal Electricity Generation Water Footprint and Virtual Water Trade in Europe
Drastic changes in electricity demand have been observed since March 2020 in Europe, after several countries implemented lockdown-like measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. We investigate the sensitivity of the electricity-water nexus in the European electric grid to large-scale behavior chang...
Uložené v:
| Vydané v: | Environmental science & technology letters Ročník 7; číslo 9; s. 683 |
|---|---|
| Hlavní autori: | , , , |
| Médium: | Journal Article |
| Jazyk: | English |
| Vydavateľské údaje: |
United States
08.09.2020
|
| ISSN: | 2328-8930, 2328-8930 |
| On-line prístup: | Zistit podrobnosti o prístupe |
| Tagy: |
Pridať tag
Žiadne tagy, Buďte prvý, kto otaguje tento záznam!
|
| Abstract | Drastic changes in electricity demand have been observed since March 2020 in Europe, after several countries implemented lockdown-like measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. We investigate the sensitivity of the electricity-water nexus in the European electric grid to large-scale behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown-like measures. We quantify changes in the blue virtual water trade between five European countries heavily affected by COVID-19 during the same period. As a result, the consumptive water footprint of thermal power plant operations in Europe decreased by 1.77 × 10
m
/day during the COVID-19 lockdowns, compared to the average of the past four years. Reduced electricity demand accounts for 16% (0.29 × 10
m
/day) of the decrease, while the remainder is attributable to changes in the electricity generation mix toward less water-intensive technologies before 2020 and during lockdowns. Virtual water transfers associated with electricity were also affected: Italy, a hotspot of COVID-19, reduced its water footprint by 8.4% and its virtual water imports by 70,700 m
/day. Germany and France slightly reduced their domestic water footprint of electricity but increased their virtual water imports. These findings improve our understanding of the impacts of large-scale behavior and technological changes to the European electricity-water nexus. |
|---|---|
| AbstractList | Drastic changes in electricity demand have been observed since March 2020 in Europe, after several countries implemented lockdown-like measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. We investigate the sensitivity of the electricity-water nexus in the European electric grid to large-scale behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown-like measures. We quantify changes in the blue virtual water trade between five European countries heavily affected by COVID-19 during the same period. As a result, the consumptive water footprint of thermal power plant operations in Europe decreased by 1.77 × 106 m3/day during the COVID-19 lockdowns, compared to the average of the past four years. Reduced electricity demand accounts for 16% (0.29 × 106 m3/day) of the decrease, while the remainder is attributable to changes in the electricity generation mix toward less water-intensive technologies before 2020 and during lockdowns. Virtual water transfers associated with electricity were also affected: Italy, a hotspot of COVID-19, reduced its water footprint by 8.4% and its virtual water imports by 70,700 m3/day. Germany and France slightly reduced their domestic water footprint of electricity but increased their virtual water imports. These findings improve our understanding of the impacts of large-scale behavior and technological changes to the European electricity-water nexus.Drastic changes in electricity demand have been observed since March 2020 in Europe, after several countries implemented lockdown-like measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. We investigate the sensitivity of the electricity-water nexus in the European electric grid to large-scale behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown-like measures. We quantify changes in the blue virtual water trade between five European countries heavily affected by COVID-19 during the same period. As a result, the consumptive water footprint of thermal power plant operations in Europe decreased by 1.77 × 106 m3/day during the COVID-19 lockdowns, compared to the average of the past four years. Reduced electricity demand accounts for 16% (0.29 × 106 m3/day) of the decrease, while the remainder is attributable to changes in the electricity generation mix toward less water-intensive technologies before 2020 and during lockdowns. Virtual water transfers associated with electricity were also affected: Italy, a hotspot of COVID-19, reduced its water footprint by 8.4% and its virtual water imports by 70,700 m3/day. Germany and France slightly reduced their domestic water footprint of electricity but increased their virtual water imports. These findings improve our understanding of the impacts of large-scale behavior and technological changes to the European electricity-water nexus. Drastic changes in electricity demand have been observed since March 2020 in Europe, after several countries implemented lockdown-like measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. We investigate the sensitivity of the electricity-water nexus in the European electric grid to large-scale behavior changes during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown-like measures. We quantify changes in the blue virtual water trade between five European countries heavily affected by COVID-19 during the same period. As a result, the consumptive water footprint of thermal power plant operations in Europe decreased by 1.77 × 10 m /day during the COVID-19 lockdowns, compared to the average of the past four years. Reduced electricity demand accounts for 16% (0.29 × 10 m /day) of the decrease, while the remainder is attributable to changes in the electricity generation mix toward less water-intensive technologies before 2020 and during lockdowns. Virtual water transfers associated with electricity were also affected: Italy, a hotspot of COVID-19, reduced its water footprint by 8.4% and its virtual water imports by 70,700 m /day. Germany and France slightly reduced their domestic water footprint of electricity but increased their virtual water imports. These findings improve our understanding of the impacts of large-scale behavior and technological changes to the European electricity-water nexus. |
| Author | Cominola, Andrea Chini, Christopher M Stillwell, Ashlynn S Roidt, Mario |
| Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Mario orcidid: 0000-0003-0240-6074 surname: Roidt fullname: Roidt, Mario organization: International Cooperation Division, Dorsch International Consultants GmbH, Munich, Germany – sequence: 2 givenname: Christopher M orcidid: 0000-0002-1208-3646 surname: Chini fullname: Chini, Christopher M organization: Department of Systems Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 45433, United States – sequence: 3 givenname: Ashlynn S orcidid: 0000-0002-6781-6480 surname: Stillwell fullname: Stillwell, Ashlynn S organization: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States – sequence: 4 givenname: Andrea orcidid: 0000-0002-4031-4704 surname: Cominola fullname: Cominola, Andrea organization: Einstein Center Digital Future, Berlin, Germany |
| BackLink | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37566299$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed |
| BookMark | eNpNUMtKAzEUDaL4_gJBsnQzNY8mmbiT2tZCwU3VZUmTO-3oTFKTDNI_8LMdsYJ3cy6cB5xzhg598IDQFSUDShi9NTYNIOUGch4QSwgv6QE6ZZyVRak5Ofz3n6DLlN5If1qRIeHH6IQrISXT-hR9Pfsm2Pfar3HeAJ61W2NzwqHCo6eX2UNBNZ73vAufPt3h0cb4NSRce7zYQGxNg8cN2BxrW-cdnoKHaHIdPH41GSKehJC3sfYZG-_wSx1z11t-uUU0Dn6Sxl0MW7hAR5VpElzu8Rw9T8aL0WMxf5rORvfzwgjFckHL4bBSiksHpQKQRvJS2ZVcQaUFCFs5B5o6SThjRhiqNJdkZWVpNQjmDDtHN7-52xg-un7CZVsnC01jPIQuLVkpCCdKUNFLr_fSbtWCW_ZNWhN3y7_12DfAeHd3 |
| CitedBy_id | crossref_primary_10_1007_s10668_021_01797_z crossref_primary_10_1016_j_ecoser_2024_101651 crossref_primary_10_1080_15435075_2021_1930005 crossref_primary_10_1088_2634_4505_acf2c0 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_scs_2022_104250 crossref_primary_10_3390_su13168679 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_jclepro_2022_134558 crossref_primary_10_3390_en14113146 crossref_primary_10_1080_1573062X_2024_2314652 crossref_primary_10_3390_w17182664 crossref_primary_10_3390_w12102820 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_energy_2023_129678 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_jenvman_2021_113949 crossref_primary_10_3390_buildings11120663 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_apenergy_2021_117540 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_jclepro_2023_136696 crossref_primary_10_1080_02508060_2022_2133485 crossref_primary_10_1029_2021EF002096 crossref_primary_10_1029_2022EF003088 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_rser_2021_111485 crossref_primary_10_1061__ASCE_WR_1943_5452_0001373 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_epsr_2021_107718 crossref_primary_10_1061__ASCE_WR_1943_5452_0001606 crossref_primary_10_1038_s41545_023_00281_7 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_jclepro_2022_132962 crossref_primary_10_1088_1748_9326_abbbb0 crossref_primary_10_1007_s40201_021_00717_7 crossref_primary_10_3389_frwa_2021_641462 crossref_primary_10_3390_su142215038 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_scib_2024_03_049 crossref_primary_10_3389_fenvs_2022_968703 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_jjie_2023_101258 crossref_primary_10_1002_wat2_1570 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_esr_2023_101119 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_heliyon_2024_e37984 crossref_primary_10_1016_j_esr_2022_100826 |
| ContentType | Journal Article |
| Copyright | Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. |
| Copyright_xml | – notice: Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. |
| DBID | NPM 7X8 |
| DOI | 10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00381 |
| DatabaseName | PubMed MEDLINE - Academic |
| DatabaseTitle | PubMed MEDLINE - Academic |
| DatabaseTitleList | MEDLINE - Academic PubMed |
| Database_xml | – sequence: 1 dbid: NPM name: PubMed url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed sourceTypes: Index Database – sequence: 2 dbid: 7X8 name: MEDLINE - Academic url: https://search.proquest.com/medline sourceTypes: Aggregation Database |
| DeliveryMethod | no_fulltext_linktorsrc |
| Discipline | Engineering |
| EISSN | 2328-8930 |
| ExternalDocumentID | 37566299 |
| Genre | Journal Article |
| GroupedDBID | AAHBH ABBLG ABJNI ABLBI ABMVS ABQRX ABUCX ACGFS ACS ADHLV AEESW AENEX AFEFF AHGAQ ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS AQSVZ BAANH CUPRZ EBS ED~ GGK GNL IH9 JG~ NPM UI2 VF5 VG9 W1F 7X8 |
| ID | FETCH-LOGICAL-a572t-1844f7736de87ee6a6387cb6bef95e5cfdde91d60322a5a179360bc68c9e52da2 |
| IEDL.DBID | 7X8 |
| ISICitedReferencesCount | 40 |
| ISICitedReferencesURI | http://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=Summon&SrcAuth=ProQuest&DestLinkType=CitingArticles&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=000570979400011&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D |
| ISSN | 2328-8930 |
| IngestDate | Thu Jul 10 17:50:23 EDT 2025 Mon Jul 21 06:00:48 EDT 2025 |
| IsDoiOpenAccess | false |
| IsOpenAccess | true |
| IsPeerReviewed | true |
| IsScholarly | true |
| Issue | 9 |
| Language | English |
| License | Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. |
| LinkModel | DirectLink |
| MergedId | FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-a572t-1844f7736de87ee6a6387cb6bef95e5cfdde91d60322a5a179360bc68c9e52da2 |
| Notes | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1208-3646 0000-0002-6781-6480 0000-0003-0240-6074 0000-0002-4031-4704 |
| OpenAccessLink | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PMC7380128 |
| PMID | 37566299 |
| PQID | 2850307515 |
| PQPubID | 23479 |
| ParticipantIDs | proquest_miscellaneous_2850307515 pubmed_primary_37566299 |
| PublicationCentury | 2000 |
| PublicationDate | 2020-09-08 |
| PublicationDateYYYYMMDD | 2020-09-08 |
| PublicationDate_xml | – month: 09 year: 2020 text: 2020-09-08 day: 08 |
| PublicationDecade | 2020 |
| PublicationPlace | United States |
| PublicationPlace_xml | – name: United States |
| PublicationTitle | Environmental science & technology letters |
| PublicationTitleAlternate | Environ Sci Technol Lett |
| PublicationYear | 2020 |
| SSID | ssj0000970403 |
| Score | 2.3595564 |
| Snippet | Drastic changes in electricity demand have been observed since March 2020 in Europe, after several countries implemented lockdown-like measures to contain the... |
| SourceID | proquest pubmed |
| SourceType | Aggregation Database Index Database |
| StartPage | 683 |
| Title | Unlocking the Impacts of COVID-19 Lockdowns: Changes in Thermal Electricity Generation Water Footprint and Virtual Water Trade in Europe |
| URI | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37566299 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2850307515 |
| Volume | 7 |
| WOSCitedRecordID | wos000570979400011&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D |
| hasFullText | |
| inHoldings | 1 |
| isFullTextHit | |
| isPrint | |
| link | http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV3JTsMwELWAcoAD-1I2GYmrS5o0XrggBK2oBIUDLb1VrhepEkpKE_gGPpuZJAUuSEhccrESRZ7nmecZ-w0hZz5oWWfkmMlQOYaCd0zr2DATW250SzleiFUP7kSvJ4dD9Vgl3LLqWOXcJxaO2qYGc-TnoYwRjxB-L6evDLtGYXW1aqGxSGoRUBlEtRjKrxxLoARgNCr6y4WSQWgO5sJDYfNcm6zhsJaa543AFCWz32lmEW466__90Q2yVhFNelUiY5MsuGSLrP6QH9wmH_0EQhnmyinQQNotLkxmNPX0-mHQvWFNRe9g3GIC-oKW9xAyOkkoYAv8-QttFz10JgaYPC31q9HM9Bn464x20jTHrGFOdWLpYDLDmyrVGERI6_BLZTFgh_Q77afrW1Z1ZmA6FmHOYFvY8kJE3DopnOMaVrEwYz52XsUuNh6cpmpaHoC70LFGJ8CDseHSKBeHVoe7ZClJE7dPaAQcQ0ZAezzYyoMRjQ-4FYK3vI9UpOrkdD7NI0A-ljN04tK3bPQ90XWyV9pqNC0lOkaRAJoKkfbgD28fkpUQN9FYJZJHpOZh3btjsmze80k2OykgBc_e4_0nM1rXXw |
| linkProvider | ProQuest |
| openUrl | ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Unlocking+the+Impacts+of+COVID-19+Lockdowns%3A+Changes+in+Thermal+Electricity+Generation+Water+Footprint+and+Virtual+Water+Trade+in+Europe&rft.jtitle=Environmental+science+%26+technology+letters&rft.au=Roidt%2C+Mario&rft.au=Chini%2C+Christopher+M&rft.au=Stillwell%2C+Ashlynn+S&rft.au=Cominola%2C+Andrea&rft.date=2020-09-08&rft.issn=2328-8930&rft.eissn=2328-8930&rft.volume=7&rft.issue=9&rft.spage=683&rft_id=info:doi/10.1021%2Facs.estlett.0c00381&rft.externalDBID=NO_FULL_TEXT |
| thumbnail_l | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=2328-8930&client=summon |
| thumbnail_m | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=2328-8930&client=summon |
| thumbnail_s | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=2328-8930&client=summon |