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Embedded resource accounting for coupled natural‐human systems: An application to water resource impacts of the western U.S. electrical energy trade
Author(s) -
Ruddell Benjamin L.,
Adams Elizabeth A.,
Rushforth Richard,
Tidwell Vincent C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1002/2013wr014531
Subject(s) - virtual water , electricity , water energy nexus , footprint , water use , environmental economics , resource (disambiguation) , ecological footprint , natural resource , environmental science , natural resource economics , environmental resource management , water resources , computer science , water resource management , economics , geology , sustainability , engineering , ecology , water scarcity , computer network , biology , paleontology , electrical engineering , nexus (standard) , embedded system
In complex coupled natural‐human systems (CNH), multitype networks link social, environmental, and economic systems with flows of matter, energy, information, and value. Embedded Resource Accounting (ERA) is a systems analysis framework that includes the indirect connections of a multitype CNH network. ERA is conditioned on perceived system boundaries, which may vary according to the accountant's point of view. Both direct and indirect impacts are implicit whenever two subnetworks interact in such a system; the ratio of two subnetworks' impacts is the embedded intensity. For trade in the services of water, this is understood as the indirect component of a water footprint, and as “virtual water” trade. ERA is a generalization of input‐output, footprint, and substance flow methods, and is a type of life cycle analysis. This paper presents results for the water and electrical energy system in the western U.S. This system is dominated by California, which outsources the majority of its water footprint of electrical energy. Electricity trade increases total water consumption for electricity production in the western U.S. by 15% and shifts water use to water‐stressed Colorado River Basin States. A systemic underaccounting for water footprints occurs because state‐level processes discount a portion of the water footprint occurring outside of the state boundary.