Energy Nexus Research

Exploring the complex nexus of energy, water, carbon, and integrated natural and social systems.

Overview

Understanding how energy nexus systems interact and influence each other within the broader context of resource management, sustainable development, climate change, and human well-being. This nexus approach recognizes that decisions in one domain (e.g., energy production) have cascading effects on others (e.g., water resources, carbon emissions, and social systems).

Featured publications

Global assessment of the carbon–water tradeoff of dry cooling for thermal power generation

Nature Water

We build a global unit-level framework to investigate the CO2 emission and energy penalty due to the deployment of dry cooling.

Aug 7, 2023

Long-term transition of China’s power sector under carbon neutrality target and water withdrawal constraint

Journal of Cleaner Production

Low cost renewables reduced the need for CCS by 80%, and water constraints nearly squeeze CCS out.

Dec 20, 2021

Assessing the impacts of nuclear desalination and geoengineering to address China’s water shortages

Desalination

We compare both coal and nuclear desalination with the currently planned South–North Water Transfer Mega-Project and show that, while the short-run cost of water diversion…

Mar 16, 2015