2nd Water-Energy in China Workshop

Background

The rapid growth of unconventional energy exploration – that is, shale gas and tight sand oil – has the potential to transform water and energy economies globally. For China, the onset of unconventional shale gas exploration has the potential to alter China’s dependence on coal and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, unconventional shale gas exploration brings with it an array of environmental and regulatory challenges. In particular, unconventional energy exploration requires large amounts of water resources and generates high volumes of waste.  The “Water-Energy Nexus in China” will highlight the scientific, environmental, engineering, and regulatory effects of linking water and energy. For China, the intricate relationship between water and energy will directly influence China’s economic trajectory over the next few decades.

Numerous scientific studies have shown that China’s current and future water demands are not balanced with its water availability; to remedy this imbalance, China has initiated a massive water transport project to divert water from the south to the arid north. Compounding China’s water shortages, the quality of water resources in China has been rapidly deteriorating, causing an additional (and typically unaccounted for) water deficit.  Energy production in China relies heavily on coal, and despite efforts to reduce atmospheric emissions, coal combustion for electricity and industry production is still a major source of air pollution, posing major health risks to a large fraction of China population. Coal is also water-intensive, requiring large amounts of water for both its production and combustion.

Alternative energy sources for coal are unconventional oil and gas from shale gas and coalbed methane through the application of hydraulic fracturing. Since 2005, the United States has tripled its gas production and has become the leading country in petroleum and shale gas production owing to the use of hydraulic fracturing. Yet the rapid rise of unconventional energy exploration in the United States has triggered public concerns about the environmental and human health implications of this technology. One of the most debated issues concerns water contamination from leaking shale gas wells and inadequate management of the wastewater that is generated together with the oil and gas.

Objectives

The water-energy nexus workshop at Duke Kunshan University (DKU) will examine the scientific and policy implications of water and energy being so tightly linked. The absence of water and especially clean water can infringe upon a country’s energy security – that is, the ability to provide sufficient supplies of energy. Moreover, remediation of contaminated water (e.g., by reverse osmosis desalination) requires more energy and thus the development of innovative technologies for sustainable and economic treatment of contaminated water are urgently needed. The transition from coal to unconventional energy production such as hydraulic fracturing could furthermore result in additional sources of water contamination that could accelerate the depletion of water resources in China. In the United States about 80% of the oil and gas wastewater is subjected to deep injection to dispose of the highly toxic and saline water. Yet the massive injection of oil and gas wastewater has resulted in increased frequency of earthquakes in many areas. In China, particularly in the Sichuan Basin, wastewater injection would pose high risks for seismic catastrophes. As such, one of the major challenges for developing the shale gas and using hydraulic fracturing in China is the management and treatment of the oil and gas wastewater so as to take into concern the array of environmental and health externalities. China is at the initial stage of considering how to transition away from coal to unconventional energy resources. This workshop builds upon an earlier workshop at DKU on the water-energy nexus in November 2014 that presented the main challenges facing China as it begins to develop its unconventional energy resources. This workshop aims to generate lessons learned and recommendations for moving forward, based upon learning from other international experiences. In doing so, the workshop will present research and lessons learned for devising environmentally sensitive and appropriate tools and policies for mitigating the environmental effects of shale gas development and water utilization.

Program

The DKU Water Energy Workshop will take place on October 14-15, 2015. It  will cover three aspects of the water-energy nexus:

• First, the workshop will survey the risks of oil and gas wastewater for water quality based on the US experience.
• Second, the workshop will present novel technologies for water treatment that could address the acute water quality issues in China, including the treatment of highly saline oil and gas wastewater. Topics will also include potential investment opportunities in novel technologies for water treatment.
• Third, the workshop will address the legal and regulatory policies that are needed to manage the water-energy nexus in order to provide a safe transition from coal to unconventional energy development in China. In particular, attention will be paid to the importance of linking water and energy regulations and policies.

The workshop will promote an intensive exchange of ideas, enhance collaboration, and pave the way for future research projects between the participants, Duke and DKU faculty and leading Chinese academic, government, and industry institutions.

*These invited speakers have indicated their interest, but have not yet confirmed their participation

Preliminary List of Speakers

• Prof. Jiane Zuo
  Tsinghua University
• Prof. Avner Vengosh
  Duke University, USA
  Water footprint and environmental impacts of unconventional energy production and hydraulic fracturing: lessons from United States. 
• Prof. Chao Zhang
  School of Economics and Management, Tongji University
  A detailed spatial analysis on the water stress of thermal power generation in China
• Prof. Yongchun Zhao
  State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan
  Mercury and other contaminants emission and control during coal combustion in China
• Dr. Qinhong Hu
  University of Geosciences, Wuhan, and University of Texas at Arlington USA, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
  Sustainable shale resource development implicated from environmental and production-decline concerns: learning from American experience 
• Dr. Yunyan Ni
  PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing
  Geochemical comparison of the natural gases from the largest tight gas field (Sulige) and the largest shale gas field (Fuling) in China
• Prof. Marc Deshusses
  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, USA
  Waste treatment processes: Opportunities for energy generation or energy minimization
• Dr. Sujie Qin
  Department of Environmental Science, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
  Impact of urbanization process on surface water quality related to pesticides in China
• Dr. Alvin Lin
  Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), China office
  Regulations of environmental impacts from shale gas development in China: Current status, gaps, and opportunities
• Dr. Lei Tian
  Energy Research Institute, Beijing, China
  An overview on shale gas development in China
• Prof. Erika Weinthal
  Duke University
  Water-energy nexus and security
• Prof. Jun Xia
  The Research Institute for Water Security (RIWS), Wuhan University
  Climate change impact on water resources vulnerability and adaptive water management in major river basins in China
• Prof. Huaming Guo
  School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences
  Naturally occurring contaminants (radioactivity, arsenic) in groundwater in China: impacts and implications.
• Prof. Ori Lahav
  Water Institute, Technion, Environmental, Water and Agricultural Engineering, Israel
  Reducing the specific energy consumption of 1st-pass seawater RO by application of high-flux membranes fed with high-pH, decarbonated seawater
• Prof. Tao He
  Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  Forward osmosis membranes for recovery of water from produced water in oil/gas industry
• Prof. Jinying Xi
  Division of Environmental Biology, Tsinghua University School of Environment
  Reducing energy consumption for odor control at wastewater treatment plants
• Prof. Xiaodi Hao
  The R & D Centre for Sustainable Environmental Biotechnology, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture
  Looking beyond struvite for P-recovery
• Dr. Qingcheng He
  China Geologic Survey, Beijing
  Wastewater injection - a case study in China
• Dr. Dan Guttman
  NYU Shanghai and US Center, Tsinghua University
  Environmental law in China

Photos in Forum

Travel and Logistic

Workshop Venue

Duke Kunshan University
No. 8 Duke Avenue, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China 215316
Tel: +86 512 5777 9988
www.dukekunshan.edu.cn

How to get to Duke Kunshan University

Bordering Shanghai to its east and Suzhou to its west, Duke Kunshan University is well connected to major cities in China and can be easily reached by air, car and train.

Taxi Driver Introduction Card

Click here to download taxi card with our address in Chinese

DKU Map

Click here to download a DKU campus map

Accomodation

The following hotels are providing special room rates for conference attendees. A shuttle bus will run between Swissotel Kunshan, Times Hotel and Duke Kunshan University (DKU) the conference to help you get to and from your hotel. 

	Swissotel Kunshan No. 387,Qianjingzhong Road, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China 215300 Tel: +86 512 5788 5788 Email：reservations.kunshan@swissotel.com Click here to download the reservation form
	Times Hotel No. 105, Boshi Road, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China 215300 Tel: +86 512 5703 6888 Email：sdbg2012@126.com Click here to download the reservation form
	Fairmont Yangcheng Lake   No. 3668 West Ma'anshan Road, Kunshan, Jiangsu, China 215300 Tel: +86 512 5780 0888 Email: reservation.kun@fairmont.com Click here to download the reservation form

SHUTTLE SCHEDULE 

A shuttle bus will depart from Kunshan South Train Station, Swissotel Kunshan, and Times Hotel to Duke Kunshan University (DKU) on October 14th & 15th help attendees to attend the workshop.

A shuttle bus will depart from Duke Kunshan University (DKU) to Kunshan South Train Station, Swissotel Kunshan, and Times Hotel on October 14th & 15th to help attendees to back to two hotels and Kunshan South Station 

For attendees who plan to stay at the Fairmont Yangcheng Lake please contact the hotel concierge to arrange your own transportation to attend the workshop.