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A Continental‐Scale Hydroeconomic Model for Integrating Water‐Energy‐Land Nexus Solutions
Author(s) -
Kahil Taher,
Parkinson Simon,
Satoh Yusuke,
Greve Peter,
Burek Peter,
Veldkamp Ted I. E.,
Burtscher Robert,
Byers Edward,
Djilali Ned,
Fischer Guenther,
Krey Volker,
Langan Simon,
Riahi Keywan,
Tramberend Sylvia,
Wada Yoshihide
Publication year - 2018
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 - 10.1029/2017wr022478
Subject(s) - nexus (standard) , sustainability , scale (ratio) , climate change , environmental resource management , scenario analysis , agriculture , water resources , investment (military) , water supply , natural resource economics , environmental economics , environmental science , business , economics , computer science , geography , environmental engineering , ecology , cartography , archaeology , finance , politics , political science , law , biology , embedded system
This study presents the development of a new bottom‐up large‐scale hydroeconomic model, Extended Continental‐scale Hydroeconomic Optimization (ECHO), that works at a subbasin scale over a continent. The strength of ECHO stems from the integration of a detailed representation of local hydrological and technological constraints with regional and global policies, while accounting for the feedbacks between water, energy, and agricultural sectors. In this study, ECHO has been applied over Africa as a case study with the aim of demonstrating the benefits of this integrated hydroeconomic modeling framework. Results of this framework are overall consistent with previous findings evaluating the cost of water supply and adaptation to global changes in Africa. Moreover, results provide critical assessments of future investment needs in both supply‐ and demand‐side water management options, economic implications of contrasting future socioeconomic and climate change scenarios, and the potential trade‐offs among economic and environmental objectives. Overall, this study demonstrates the capacity of ECHO to address challenging research questions examining the sustainability of water supply and the impacts of water management on energy and food sectors and vice versa. As such, we propose ECHO as useful tool for water‐related scenario analysis and management options evaluation.