Research Project on the Water-Energy Nexus
Research Project on the Water-Energy Nexus
The European Environmental Bureau (http://www.eeb.org/) is currently developing a project researching the Water Energy Nexus. The project studies water use related to thermal power generation, quality assessment of discharged waste water and water pricing strategies from lignite/peat mines and thermal power plants.
Generation of electricity by thermal power plants is the second most important source for water abstractions in the European Union. According to the European Environment Agency, this amounts to 40% of the total water abstractions.
The research hopes to clarify whether,
- Current prices for water services function well as undercover subsidies which are paid by energy industry work.
- Pricing structures holding the sector from moving towards less water intensive technologies while hindering the implementation of renewable energies.
The European European Environmental Bureau have prepared this questionnaire to gather data from stakeholders from all 28 EU Member States.
The questionnaire will be opened until next 28th February 2017.
The European Environmental Bureau has issued an open invitation to share details of the questionnaire on your networks and social media in order to receive as many answers as possible from all EU Member States. As there are no mandatory fields, you are invited to submit any piece of information you have, even if it covers just few of the questions provided.
Once the study has concluded it is expected to serve for promoting a fairer water pricing system for all stakeholders while providing an accurate picture of the current situation of water consumption and quality standards for discharge waters as well as other water related impacts related to thermal power generation. Negative impacts will also be highlighted compared to alternative energy generation.