The power industry withdraws more water than any other sector of the US economy. The country’s aging fleet of conventional power plants kill fish by sucking billions of gallons of water – and the fish that live in it – out of rivers, lakes, harbors and estuaries every day. Nearly all of this water is used for “once-through cooling,” an outdated process in which older power plants withdraw enormous volumes of water out of natural waterbodies, kill everything living in it, heat it and discharge it back into the environment at an elevated temperature. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), freshwater consumption for world energy production is on track to double within the next 25 years. What’s behind this increase? Two trends: “soaring coal-fired electricity” and the “ramping up of biofuel production.”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:30:59 +0000
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