Each European Uses Four Bathtubs of Water a Day for Electricity
Research highlights another edge renewables have over fossil fuels in an era when climate change is straining water supplies.
power panels stand at Abaste's El Bonillo Solar Plant while wind turbines spin at a wind farm on the background.
Photographer: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images EuropeSolar and wind power could be in for another boost once policy makers begin accounting for the vast volumes of water needed to keep the lights on.
That’s the conclusion of research published this week by the European Union’s Joint Research Centre, which is urging the bloc’s leaders to pay closer attention to the amount of water used by traditional coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants. It takes more than 1,300 liters of water — enough to fill four bathtubs — to generate the electricity each European resident uses each day.