event
Friday 13 Dec 2019: Water-Energy-Carbon Nexus Modelling for Sustainable Water Planning and Management: A Case Study of City of Penticton, Canada
Dr Gyan Chhipi Shrestha - University of British Columbia
Harrison 170 14:30-15:30
Abstract:
Small and Medium-sized Urban Water Systems (SMUWSs) face increasing challenges due to increasing population, lower household occupancy, higher prices of water and energy, lifestyle changes, and climate change. These factors ultimately affect the sustainability of SMUWSs. In particular, the important elements: water, energy, and carbon emissions are interconnected and have complex interactions forming water-energy-carbon (WEC) nexus. These pervasive interactions require integrated solutions. This research developed a comprehensive WEC nexus model for SMUWSs by using system dynamics to assist municipalities, urban developers, and policy makers for neighborhood water planning and management. The proposed model was developed for the operational phase of SMUWSs and then validated using the data of the City of Penticton (Canada). The results show strong interrelationships between water, energy, and carbon emissions. The energy for water was 11.1 MWh/ML, water for energy was 6512 L/MWh, and GHG emissions were 124.4 kg CO2e/MWh from energy use and 120.8 kgCO2e/ML from wastewater processes. Moreover, a cost module was added to the WEC nexus model to analyze the economics of the WEC nexus to achieve a net-zero water (NZW) in the City. Results show Penticton can achieve net-zero to net-plus water, but it would be highly energy intensive and costly. A detailed analysis shows that rainwater harvesting and wastewater reuse could be energy efficient and cost effective given certain annual precipitation and freshwater conveyance distances, respectively. The energy efficiency and cost effectiveness of NZW would increase with an increased pressure on water sources because of population growth, decreasing freshwater availability associated with climate change, and so on.
Biography:
Dr. Gyan Chhipi Shrestha is a sessional lecturer and postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, Canada and is registered as an Engineer-In-Training (EIT) in Environmental Engineering in Ontario, Canada. He has an inter-disciplinary academic background in environmental science and engineering. He received PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2017 being recognized as the UBC Applied Science Rising Star 2017. He received both B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Environmental Science from Tribhuvan University, Nepal being the Gold medalist in M.Sc. He has published over twenty-five peer-reviewed papers in the leading journals. Also, he co-authored a book. He earned five years of teaching and research experience as a faculty in different universities and colleges. His research focus on water-energy nexus, environmental risk analysis, decision analysis, sustainable water management, and life cycle analysis. He is a reviewer of many top-ranked journals. He currently works on several research projects such as “One Water Approach”, “Urban water resilience”, and “Carbon capturing technologies”.
