Water-energy nexus in China and its implications for regional water and energy self-sufficiency
Date
2017
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
China’s economic development relies heavily on its water and energy endowment. The country’s rapid economic growth in the past decades has caused severe resource shortages and environmental degradations. Additionally, the uneven distribution of water and energy resources at the provincial level further exaggerated the supply-demand conflict. As a response, massive infrastructures were constructed to mitigate the geographical mismatch of water and energy resources. However, the deepened water and energy crises have revealed the incompetence of a ‘hard path’ in solving these problems. There is an urgent need to search for alternative strategies to achieve long-term water and energy sustainability. ☐ In this study, an emerging tool of the water-energy nexus is adopted to reveal the complex issues underneath China’s water and energy systems. If utilized properly, the synergy effect of the water-energy nexus can provide an opportunity to guide China going through this transitional period. Therefore, this dissertation approaches the water and energy challenges in China from the nexus perspective. Using both quantitative and qualitatively analyses, this study explores the nexus-oriented strategy for water and energy management in China. ☐ The results suggest that China’s water and energy sectors are highly related and there exist huge regional variances at the provincial level. Moreover, the intensive inter-provincial water and energy transfer is exaggerating the resource overexploitation and has caused unequal invasion of external resources. Consequently, some provinces are at risk of facing water-related energy problems and energy-induced water shortages simultaneously, while others sacrifice their fragile water systems to bear the burden of the national energy security. Overall, these water-energy trade-offs and inter-provincial interdependence in China call for a shift away from the supply-driven approaches. Alternatively, the government can incorporate the water-energy nexus into policy making to coordinate its water-energy development. For enhanced water-energy compatibilities, efforts should also be made to improve the provincial self-sufficiency through demand-side conservation and supply diversification. ☐ Furthermore, this study encourages policy integration by investigating the institutional capacities. It also identifies the positive or negative synergies existing within the country’s future development plans. Based on the policy review, this dissertation gives insight into what strategies the government can adopt to achieve secure and reliable water and energy systems while staying within the local carrying capacity. In addition, this study outlines practical pathways for nexus-oriented management from the perspectives of different stakeholders. Valuable implementation experiences were drawn from five international cases.
Description
Keywords
Applied sciences, Social sciences, Health and environmental sciences, China, Environmental justice, Indigenous resources, Self-sufficiency, Water and energy intensity, Water-energy nexus