Consumption of Water in Geothermal Development, NEPA, and the National Geothermal Data System
- Key words
- NGDS; geothermal; policy; life cycle assessment; LCA; water consumption; NEPA
- Location
- United States
- Conference
- Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
- Year
- 2014
- Session
- Databases; Environmental aspects; Water consumption
- Language
- English
Abstract
Data concerning water consumption at geothermal energy facilities were collected from state and federal environmental policy documentation sources. These sources consisted of environmental assessments (EA) and environmental impact statements (EIS) triggered by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and obtained from federal government agencies. Although this way of obtaining information does capture unique predicted projectlevel water usage data on geothermal energy projects, the lack of statutory and legal reporting requirements for actual operational data means there are data gaps. These gaps are also explored in this paper. A new platform from the U.S. Department of Energy?s Geothermal Technologies Office ? the National Geothermal Data System ? is explored as an option to expand the collection and use of these kinds of data.
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