Hydrogen economy has severe impact on water supply
Michael Webber, Associate Director at the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, has provided the first analysis of the total water requirements for the USA during a transitional hydrogen economy
A hydrogen economy is expected to be in full swing around 2050, according to a 2004 report by the US National Research Council. A transitional hydrogen economy would occur in about 30 years, in 2037.
At that time, the NRC predicts an annual production of 60 billion kg of hydrogen. Webber's analysis estimates that this amount of hydrogen would use about 19-69 trillion gallons of water annually as a feedstock for electrolytic production and as a coolant for thermoelectric power. That's 52-189 billion gallons per day, a 27-97% increase from the 195 billion gallons per day (72 trillion gallons annually) used today by the thermoelectric power sector to generate about 90% of the electricity in the US. During the past several decades, water withdrawal has remained stable, suggesting that this increase in water intensity could have unprecedented consequences on the natural resource and public policy.
"The greatest significance of this work is that, by shifting our fuels production onto the grid, we can have a very dramatic impact on water resources unless policy changes are implemented that require system-wide shifts to power plant cooling methods that are less water-intensive or to power sources that don't require cooling," Webber told PhysOrg.com. "This analysis is not meant to say that hydrogen should not be pursued, just that if hydrogen production is pursued through thermoelectrically-powered electrolysis, the impacts on water are potentially quite severe."
