Sustainable and Resilient Design of Decentralized Water and Energy Systems

This research seeks to develop understanding and knowledge of the resilience and sustainability of integrated centralized and decentralized water and energy systems under future demographic, climate, and technology scenarios. The project uses social science approaches to characterize individual preferences (utility functions) related to (de)centralization of water and energy infrastructure systems; a spatial agent-based model to develop spatially explicit adoption trajectories and patterns in accordance with utility functions and characteristics of the major metropolitan case study locations; and a system dynamics model that considers interactions among infrastructure systems, characterizes measures of resilience and sustainability, and feeds these back to the agent based model. Combined, they provide a robust capacity to consider the ways in which future development of energy and water resources can be more or less resilient, have fewer or greater environmental consequences, meet differential demands of human populations, and result in greater or lesser overall resource use. 

Funding

• National Science Foundation CRISP Type I Grant, #1638334

• National Science Foundation CBET Grant, #1706143

Relevant Publications

User preferences:

• R Ghasemi, Y Li, Z Lu, JC Huang, W. Mo, “Spatial household preferences of decentralized solar photovoltaic and thermal systems,” Resources, Conservation and Recycling 185, 106487, 2022.

• Z Lu, W Mo, B Dilkina, K Gardner, S Stang, JC Huang, MC Foreman, “Decentralized Water Collection Systems for Households and Communities: Household Preferences in Atlanta and Boston,” Water Research, 167, 115-134, 2019. 

Water-energy systems modeling (water focused):

• Y Li, W Mo, S Derrible, Z Lu, “Integration of multi-objective spatial optimization and data-driven interpretation to direct the city-wide sustainable promotion of building-based decentralized water technologies,” Water Research 222, 118880, 2022. 

• M Khalkhali, B Dilkina, W Mo, “The role of climate change and decentralization in urban water services: A dynamic energy-water nexus analysis,” Water Research, 207, 117830, 2021.

• Li Y., M Khalkhali, W Mo, Z Lu, “Modeling spatial diffusion of decentralized water technologies and impacts on the urban water systems,” Journal of Cleaner Production, 315, 128169, 2021. 

• S Stang, M Khalkhali, M Petrik, M Palace, Z Lu, W Mo, “Spatially optimized distribution of household rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling systems,” Journal of Cleaner Production, 312, 127736, 2021. 

• R Maskwa, K Gardner, W Mo, “A Spatial Life Cycle Cost Comparison of Residential Greywater and Rainwater Harvesting Systems,” Environmental Engineering Science, 38(8), 2021. 

• M Khalkhali, W Mo, “The energy implication of climate change on urban wastewater systems,” Journal of Cleaner Production, 267, 121905, 2020. 

• M Khalkhali, K Westphal, W Mo, “The Water-Energy Nexus in Drinking Water Supply and Its Implications on the Integrated Water and Energy Management,” Science of the Total Environment, 636, 1257-1267, 2018. 

• S Stang, H Wang, K Gardner, W Mo, “Influences of Water Quality and Climate on the Water-Energy Nexus: A Spatial Comparison of Two Water Systems,” Journal of Environmental Management, 218, 613-621, 2018. 

• W Mo, H Wang, J Jacobs, “Understanding the Influence of Climate Change on the Embodied Energy of Water Supply – A Case Study in Northeast U.S.,” Water Research, 95, 220-229, 2016. 

Water-energy systems modeling (energy focused):

• M Ren, CR Mitchell, W Mo, “Managing residential solar photovoltaic-battery systems for grid and life cycle economic and environmental co-benefits under time-of-use rate design,” Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 169, 105527, 2021.

• M Ren, CR Mitchell, W Mo, “Dynamic life cycle economic and environmental assessment of residential solar photovoltaic systems,” Science of the Total Environment, 722, 137932, 2020.

Conceptual modeling framework: 

• W Mo, Z Lu, B Dilkina, K Gardner, J Huang, MC Foreman, “Sustainable and Resilient Design of Interdependent Water and Energy Systems: Tackling Complexities at the Infrastructure-Human-Resource Nexus,” Sustainability, 10(6), 1845, 2018.