Valdez, MC;
Adler, I;
Barrett, M;
Ochoa, R;
Pérez, A;
(2016)
The Water-Energy-Carbon Nexus: Optimising Rainwater Harvesting in Mexico City.
Environmental Processes
, 3
(2)
pp. 307-323.
10.1007/s40710-016-0138-2.
Preview |
Text
art%3A10.1007%2Fs40710-016-0138-2.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
This study compares greenhouse gases emissions and energy consumption of buildings supplied by the municipal water grid in Mexico City against different configurations of rainwater harvesting systems. A comparative simulation model was built for this purpose. Life-cycle assessment methodology was used to embrace impacts not only from operation (e.g. pumping energy) but also from building the system (e.g. materials, their transportation, etc.). This analysis is essential to improve Mexico City’s water management. The city’s aquifer is overexploited, which has caused land subsidence; the city is prone to flooding for being located in an endorheic basin and highly urbanised; it consumes 1.23 kWh/m3 to supply water to the municipal grid (65 % of it to import 18 % of its water demand from neighbouring basins); and between 30 % and 50 % of this water is lost through grid leakages. The model was used to analyse eleven different types of buildings. Results proved that rainwater harvesting can reduce greenhouse gases emissions in Mexico City and three of the four harvesting scenarios also aid at mitigating flooding risk.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Water-Energy-Carbon Nexus: Optimising Rainwater Harvesting in Mexico City |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s40710-016-0138-2 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40710-016-0138-2 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2016. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
| Keywords: | Rainwater harvesting, Life-cycle assessment, Carbon emissions, Energy consumption, Water management, Flood mitigation |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476861 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
