Membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) is a non-faradaic, capacitive technique for desalinating brackish water by adsorbing ions in charged porous electrodes. To compete with reverse osmosis, the specific energy consumption of MCDI needs to be reduced to less than 1 kWh per m(3) of freshwater produced. In order to investigate the energy consumption of MCDI, we present here the energy consumption, and the fraction of energy that can be recovered during the ion desorption step of MCDI, as a function of influent concentration, water flow rate and water recovery. Furthermore, the energy consumption of MCDI based on experimental data of our lab-scale system is compared with literature data of reverse osmosis. Comparing with literature data for energy consumption in reverse osmosis, we find that for feed water with salinity lower than 60 mM, to obtain freshwater of similar to 1 gTDS/L, MCDI can be more energy efficient. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.