Assessment of water resources by exergy cost

Abstract

This chapter presents the application of exergy analysis to water bodies focusing the attention on the assessment of the exergy cost. It comprises three different but clearly connected sections: exergy cost of water technologies, exergy value of the hydrological cycle and fundamentals, and application and results of the Physical Hydronomics methodology. The exergy cost is a key parameter to be included in any water analysis regarding exergy efficiency. It measures the goodness of the considered technological process when it is compared with the ideal one and it is used to translate the objective exergy measurements into economic figures. The unit exergy cost of water technologies is introduced both in the analysis of the exergy value of the natural hydrological cycle and in the calculation of water costs. In particular, Physical Hydronomics is defined as the application of the exergy analysis to the assessment of costs of water bodies and it has presented interesting results when considered in the European Water Framework Directive implementation for Spanish and European watersheds. The background and main results of these three mentioned issues are presented along this chapter.