Cooley, Heather --- "The Energy Implications of Desalination" [2011] ELECD 1029; in Kenney, S. Douglas; Wilkinson, Robert (eds), "The Water–Energy Nexus in the American West" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: The Water–Energy Nexus in the American West

Editor(s): Kenney, S. Douglas; Wilkinson, Robert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849809368

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: The Energy Implications of Desalination

Author(s): Cooley, Heather

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

10. The energy implications of
desalination
Heather Cooley

10.1. INTRODUCTION

Long considered the Holy Grail of water supply, desalination offers the
potential of an unlimited source of fresh water purified from the vast
oceans of salt water that surround us. The public, politicians and water
managers continue to hope that cost-effective and environmentally safe
seawater desalination will come to the rescue of water-short regions. At
present, however, the only significant seawater desalination capacity is
in the Persian Gulf, islands with limited local supplies, and selected other
locations where water options are limited and the public is willing to pay
high prices.
In the United States, almost all seawater desalination facilities are small
systems used for high-valued industrial and commercial needs. This may
be changing. Despite some major barriers to desalination ­ including
its extremely high energy footprint ­ interest has recently mushroomed
as technology has improved, demands for water have grown and prices
for some desalination technology have declined. Interest in desalination
has been especially high in the West, where rapidly growing populations,
inadequate regulation of the water supply/land-use nexus, and ecosystem
degradation from existing water supply sources have forced a rethink-
ing of water policies and management. For example, public and private
entities in California have put forward more than 20 proposals for large
seawater desalination facilities along the coast over the past ten years. In
south Texas, two seawater desalination plants have been proposed within
the last year. Even officials in Las Vegas have ...