Water-Energy Control Relationship in Socio-Economic System

The water and energy are two essential and fundamental supporting resources for urban rapid development, and the interaction between these two resources are complex. This research uses the concepts of virtual water and embodied energy to interpret the water and energy flow networks in socio-economic system. Ecological network analysis is used to manifest the relationships between energy and water resources in socio-economic network with a case study of Beijing. The results show that the embodied energy flows show stronger control influence in the socio-economic system than the one of virtual water flows. Among 30 economic sectors, only 6 sectors, mainly primary and secondary industrial sectors, have virtual water dominated control influences, while the rest of sectors have embodied energy dominated control influences.