Biodiversity Loss from Freshwater Use for China's Electricity Generation.

ABSTRACT: Electricity generation has two major, under-investigated impacts on freshwater biodiversity due to its water use: the consumption of freshwater and thermal emissions to freshwater. Here, we analyze the spatiotemporal freshwater biodiversity impacts of China's electric power system and the driving factors for these impacts. We show that between 2008 and 2017, the freshwater consumption of electricity generation peaked in 2013 (13.6 Gm³). Meanwhile, the freshwater consumption factor of China's electricity generation decreased from 3.2 to 2.0 L/kWh. However, due to increasing thermal emissions, the biodiversity loss via freshwater use increased from 1.1 × 10⁸ in 2008 to 1.6 × 10⁸ PDF m³ year. The overall biodiversity loss per unit of electricity gen

SUBMITTER: Jin Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8892834 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature