Systems-Level Analyses of Water and Energy Security in a Changing Climate
Restricted (Penn State Only)
- Author:
- Dennis, Lauren
- Graduate Program:
- Civil Engineering
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 31, 2023
- Committee Members:
- Patrick Fox, Program Head/Chair
Karen Fisher-Vanden, Outside Unit Member
Hannah Wiseman, Outside Field Member
Alfonso Mejia, Co-Chair & Major Field Member
Caitlin Grady, Co-Chair, Major Member & Dissertation Advisor - Keywords:
- Water Security
Energy Security
Hydropower
Network Science
Decision-Relevant Analysis
Climate Change
Systems Analysis - Abstract:
- Climate change is expected to have significant impacts on energy and water systems. In some regions, decreased precipitation, increased evaporation rates, and reduced snowpack may contribute to reduced water availability, affecting water supply for uses such as irrigation, domestic use, and energy production. In other areas, the increased risk of extreme precipitation events poses challenges for flood management and infrastructure maintenance. Energy systems use water for power plant cooling and to produce hydropower, and changes in water availability and quality affect energy production. Climate change is also expected to impact energy demand as the use of air conditioning and other cooling technologies increases, which could affect the energy available to pump and treat water. Pursuing water and energy security in the face of climate risk requires an integrative framing at the large scale that considers cascading impacts and an actionable framing at smaller scales that enables nuanced resilience. Additionally, adaptation to climate change will require consideration of the social and institutional systems which govern many of the physical systems being impacted. This dissertation explores water and energy security across transboundary scales in a changing climate using a variety of interdisciplinary tools and methods. As many have recognized that interdisciplinarity and collaboration will be required to address grand challenges such as climate change, this dissertation utilizes tools such as network science, climate science, and decision-relevant analysis to holistically explore climate change impacts on water and energy security across scales. First, Chapter 2 presents work analyzing the overlap between scholarship on transboundary water resources and water security, and it highlights some key challenges and opportunities of working in interdisciplinary spaces. Chapter 3 describes analysis of potential climate change impacts on hydropower at transboundary scales, extending the exploration of questions around transboundary water resources and water security to include energy security. Chapter 4 seeks to contextualize the work presented in Chapter 3 by exploring how hydropower owners and operators incorporate climate risk into their planning and decision-making under uncertainty. Finally, Chapter 5 presents conclusions, areas for future work, and a discussion of the contributions of this dissertation to interdisciplinary scholarship on water and energy security across scales.