ABSTRACT
The electricity demand of a SWRO plant using state of the art technology can be illustrated by a simple arithmetic example. A plant with a capacity of 130,000 m3/d could supply up to 1 million people with water for domestic use, assuming the German average per capita water consumption of 130 l and not counting any indirect uses (industry, food production etc). At a specific energy demand of 3 kWh/m3, the plant would increase the electricity demand of every person in the municipality by 10%. In other words, a person consumes on average 0.13 m3 of water per day, which − if produced by desalination − increases the person’s average electricity bill by 10% from 3.8 kWh/d to 4.2 kWh/da. 10% is a considerable increase, however, it could be compensated by reducing the time of a hot shower by 80 seconds every morningb. It is estimated that the total saving potential due to the use of energy-efficient household appliances in Germany is about 29% per household [259], without compromising comfort or living standards.
