Search Results (16)

Geothermal water, as a by-product of renewable energy generation, can be appreciated as part of a sustainable Blue Economy in terms of resource effectiveness. This could be part of urban geothermal resource parks in the near future. City aquaculture integrated with urban farms running in a cascading model of energy and material consumption can provide an advanced energy-water-food nexus in densely populated areas, evolving into a refined Nature 4.0 habitat. This case study of the world’s first climate-controlled, closed salmon farm based on geothermal resources presents inclusive, water-sensitive design principles and resilient urban planning, where architecture brings aquatic ecosystems indoors. This is also an example of how to reduce investment risk and integrate geothermal development with sustainable, innovative fish farming based on water circulation systems (RAS) and digital technologies to sustain life-support systems. This greenfield project on Poland’s Baltic coast highlights the potential for geothermal investments, demonstrating that even low-temperature extracted water can serve as both a renewable energy source and a valuable resource. Having operated successfully for over a decade with positive certification, this model of efficient geothermal resource utilization appears to be well-suited for replication and broader implementation. Full article

The water–energy–food (WEF) nexus is recognised globally as a framework for sustainable resource management and a potential tool for building resilient social-ecological systems (SES). To verify this, we used a transdisciplinary approach to explore how the WEF nexus approach is understood theoretically and practically. The analysis indicated a disparity in how the WEF nexus framework is understood and conceptualised in theory, and the practical implementation of the framework. Given this, the study found it challenging to validate the WEF nexus as a supporting tool for building SES resilience. In line with this, this study argues for a deeper exploration of the practical implementation of the WEF nexus framework in planning, governance and social processes. As such, the study analysed the governance and management systems of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront (V&A), a precinct in Cape Town that adopted the WEF nexus approach for sustainable management of water, energy, food and waste resources. Using the analysis of V&A Waterfront’s management practices—including the use of the Global Carbon Exchange (GCX) system—from a practical, social and governance perspective, the aim was to understand whether a bridge between WEF nexus theory and governance practice impacts the practical ability to govern for SES resilience. Findings suggest that the nexus governance approach at the V&A Waterfront has implications that strengthen the capacity to govern for SES resilience in the V&A Waterfront context. The conclusion is then made that the nexus governance approach also strengthens the capacity to govern for SES resilience in the Cape Town context. Results also suggest the most crucial element for the success of the nexus governance approach is a material flow analysis (MFA)-based decision support system (DSS) exemplified by GCX Data Analytics Sustainability Hub (DASH-). Full article

Though a relatively large number of studies on sustainable project governance (SPG) have been undertaken, the existing corpus of literature is bereft of a comprehensive review paper that scientometrically analyses the materials published hitherto and puts forward the research gaps and the corresponding future works to be conducted. To fill this knowledge gap, this study undertakes a bibliometric review and scientometric analysis by meticulously delving into the relevant body of knowledge of sustainable governance reported in different databases. From the results obtained using CiteSpace software, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) most of the keywords with high centrality rankings are related to the environment, (2) “participation” and “land use” are the most important clusters, (3) the United Kingdom and the United States are by far the most advanced countries in the concerned field, (4) the hot topics within the defined clusters are “industry”, “transition management”, “property rights”, and “natural resources”, and (5) the two salient keywords are “public participation” and “insight”. The attained findings lay out a solid foundation for researchers and practitioners towards fostering the area of SPG, by focusing on land use, community participation, politics, climate change, and the water–energy–food nexus and finding ways to tackle the elaborated shortcomings. Full article

Experts have been searching for ways to mitigate the impacts of climate change on resources since the early 20th century. In response, the World Economic Forum introduced the concept of a “nexus”, which involves the simultaneous, systematic collaboration of multiple individuals or sectors, such as water, energy, and food, in order to create an integrated approach to reducing resource scarcity through a multi-disciplinary framework. In contrast, a circular economy (CE) involves restructuring material flows from a linear economic system and closing the loop on resource exploitation. Both the nexus and CE have been developed to address the overexploitation of resources, but they also contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and decouple carbon emissions from economic growth. This study explores the potential of combining the nexus and CE to pursue the SDGs on a global scale. Our findings reveal significant research gaps and policy implementation challenges in developing countries, as well as the potential consequences of adopting integrative scenarios. Finally, we propose a system dynamics model as a way to address the difficulties of coupling policies and to better understand the interdependencies between different parts of the economy. Full article

It is urgent that we increase global food production to support population growth. Food production requires significant resources, amongst them water and energy. Therefore, any losses of food or other agricultural products also means a waste of water and energy resources. A significant amount of these losses occurs during the postharvest stage, primarily during processing and storage. This is considered avoidable food waste. The water-energy-waste nexus (WEW), and its relationship to food production, needs to be investigated from a circular bioeconomy lens. Furthermore, alternative uses of the wastes should be investigated. This review focuses on agro-wastes and their management as sources for bioactive compounds, biofertilizers, biomaterials, nanomaterials, pharmaceuticals and medicinal agents, and growth media, e.g., for plant tissue culture. We also investigated the potential contribution of agro-wastes to bioenergy production (bioethanol, biogas, and biofuel). Proper management of agro-wastes may support the mitigation of climate change, produce innovative bio-ingredients and biodegradable materials, and enhance green growth and a circular bioeconomy. We argue that the management of agro-wastes cannot be discussed without referring to the role of water and energy within the food system. Thus, this review focuses on agricultural wastes and their handling, applications, environmental impacts, and potential benefits in the agricultural and medical industries in light of the WEW nexus. Full article

From a climate change perspective, the governance of natural common-pool resources—the commons—is a key point in the challenge of transitioning to sustainability. This paper presents the main strategic advances of the São Paulo Urban Living Laboratory (ULL) regarding Food, Energy and Water (FEW Nexus) analysis and modelling at the border of a high biodiverse forest in a peri-urban region in southeast Brazil. It is a replicable and scalable method concerning FEW governance. The FEW Nexus is an analytical guide to actions that will enable a colossal set of innovative processes that the transition to sustainability presupposes. Sustainable governance of the FEW dimensions, seen as an innovation-based process, is approached by a decision making tool to understand the past and future dynamics of the system. The governance framework is based on a multi-criteria and multi-attribute set of sustainability-relevant factors used as indicators to model complex system dynamics (SD) and the stakeholders’ future expectations through a Delphi approach. Based on the three main dimensions of the Ecosystem Services Approach—Physical and Material Conditions, Attributes of Communities, and Rules-in-Use—the tool comprises thirteen specific sustainability indicators such as water and carbon footprints, land use social development, payment for ecosystem services, and land use gain indices. Its development was designed to generate a long-term network of socioenvironmental stakeholders’ decision making processes and collective learning about a higher level of sustainable systems. System Dynamics modelling demonstrates the associations between sustainability indicators and the impacts of payment for ecosystem services on the land use social development index, or on the trophic state index. The Delphi foresight approach, using the Promethee-Gaia method, allows us to understand the positions of multiple agents regarding the transition process. In this context, decision making tools can be very useful and effective in answering the “how to” questions of ULLs and paving the way for transition, providing collective planning and decision support frameworks for sustainability transition management. Full article

Membrane research in Portugal is aligned with global concerns and expectations for sustainable social development, thus progressively focusing on the use of natural resources and renewable energy. This review begins by addressing the pioneer work on membrane science and technology in Portugal by the research groups of Instituto Superior Técnico—Universidade de Lisboa (IST), NOVA School of Science and Technology—Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT NOVA) and Faculdade de Engenharia—Universidade do Porto (FEUP) aiming to provide an historical perspective on the topic. Then, an overview of the trends and challenges in membrane processes and materials, mostly in the last five years, involving Portuguese researchers, is presented as a contribution to a more sustainable water–energy–material–food nexus. Full article

The food, energy, and water (FEW) nexus has gained increased attention, resulting in numerous studies on management approaches. Themes of resource use, and their subsequent scarcity and economic rents, which are within the application domain of the World Trade Model, are ripe for study, with the continuing development of forward- and backward-facing economic data. Scenarios of future food and energy demand, relating to supply chains, as well as direct and indirect resource uses, are modelled in this paper. While it is possible to generate a substantial number of economic and environmental scenarios, our focus is on the development of an overarching approach involving a range of scenarios. We intend to establish a benchmark of possibilities in the context of the debates surrounding the Paris Climate Agreement (COP21) and the Green New Deal. Our approach draws heavily from the existing literature on international agreements and targets, notably that of COP21, whose application we associate with the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP). Relevant factor uses and scarcity rent increases are found and localized, e.g., on the optimal qualities of water, minerals, and land. A clear policy implication is that, in all scenarios, processes of energy transition, raw material use reduction, and recycling must be strengthened. Full article

The European Union’s 2030 climate and energy policy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development underline the commitment to mitigate climate change and reduce its impacts by supporting sustainable use of resources. This commitment has become stricter in light of the ambitious climate neutrality target set by the European Green Deal for 2050. Water, Energy and Food are the key variables of the “Nexus Thinking” which face the sustainability challenge with a multi-sectoral approach. The aim of the paper is to show the methodological path toward the implementation of an integrated modeling platform based on the Nexus approach and consolidated energy system analysis methods to represent the agri-food system in a circular economy perspective (from the use of water, energy, biomass, and land to food production). The final aim is to support decision-making connected to climate change mitigation. The IEA-The Integrated MARKAL-EFOM System (TIMES) model generator was used to build up the Basilicata Water, Energy and Food model (TIMES-WEF model), which allows users a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of climate change on the Basilicata agri-food system in terms of land use, yields and water availability and a critical comparison of these indicators in different scenarios. The paper focuses on the construction of the model’s Reference Energy and Material System of the TIMES model, which integrates water and agricultural commodities into the energy framework, and on the results obtained through the calibration of the model β version to statistical data on agricultural activities. Full article

Increasing human demands for water, energy, food and materials, are expected to accentuate resource supply challenges over the coming decades. Experience suggests that long-term strategies for a single sector could yield both trade-offs and synergies for other sectors. Thus, long-term transition pathways for linked resource systems should be informed using nexus approaches. Global integrated assessment models can represent the synergies and trade-offs inherent in the exploitation of water, energy and land (WEL) resources, including the impacts of international trade and climate policies. In this study, we review the current state-of-the-science in global integrated assessment modeling with an emphasis on how models have incorporated integrated WEL solutions. A large-scale assessment of the relevant literature was performed using online databases and structured keyword search queries. The results point to the following main opportunities for future research and model development: (1) improving the temporal and spatial resolution of economic models for the energy and water sectors; (2) balancing energy and land requirements across sectors; (3) integrated representation of the role of distribution infrastructure in alleviating resource challenges; (4) modeling of solution impacts on downstream environmental quality; (5) improved representation of the implementation challenges stemming from regional financial and institutional capacity; (6) enabling dynamic multi-sectoral vulnerability and adaptation needs assessment; and (7) the development of fully-coupled assessment frameworks based on consistent, scalable, and regionally-transferable platforms. Improved database management and computational power are needed to address many of these modeling challenges at a global-scale. Full article

This research introduces an approach to analyze the nexus of water, energy and rice production system at the watershed scale. The nexus relationship equations, developed to suit the local scale facilitating analysis in the rice production sector, were integrated with a Material Flow Analysis tool to expand the visualization capability. Moreover, the nexus flow was linked with the selected resource security, eco-efficiency and economic indicators, taking into account the spatial and temporal effect of water availability. The study covers the nexus resource flows not only in the rice production sector but also all other sectors in the whole watershed to assess local resource security. The tool covers wider implications, trade-offs and synergy impacts that were not much covered in previous studies. The tool was applied to evaluate the trade-offs and synergies of the impacts from proposed scenarios of alternative agricultural practices and land-use change options. The scenarios applying land-use change, and changing non-suitable and low-suitable rice cultivation areas to sugarcane and cassava, can reduce water use significantly resulting in reducing the nexus energy while the impact on economics, food security and direct energy use is small. Full article

The food-energy-water (FEW) nexus presents an opportunity to rethink predominant approaches to household behavior change science. We linked emerging FEW nexus research with existing literature examining household consumption and pro-environmental behaviors. While a large body of work examines the environmental impacts of household life and explores pathways to behavior change for sustainability, the literature lacks studies that test interventions in multiple FEW resource categories, leaving researchers unable to identify tensions and tradeoffs in the household system. To guide this developing field and accumulate findings on household behavior across disciplines, we proposed a conceptual typology that synthesizes interdisciplinary analytic traditions to classify behavioral interventions targeting the household FEW nexus. The typology synthesizes behavioral interventions as active, passive, or structural, and household-specific or non-specific, illustrating six distinct categories: information, tailored information, action, gamification, policy/price change, and material/technology provision. A review of 40 studies that guided the typology identifies four significant lessons for future intervention research: household non-specific information and tailored information work better together, feedback is more effective when it is persistent, price-based interventions (information or incentives) are often ineffective, and material/technology provision is very effective but utilized in few household studies. To push forward household resource consumption science, we advocated for a holistic nexus focus that is rooted in interdisciplinarity, coalition building with stakeholders, and data reporting that facilitates knowledge accumulation. Full article

The article takes hydro-development schemes in the Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia as an example to discuss the suitability and shortcomings of nexus approaches for the analysis of complex socio-ecological transformations. Based on critical theoretical debates and extensive field research in Ethiopia, the paper broadens the nexus perspective by integrating the three analytical dimensions of time, space, and power. The empirical material comes from a case study of the Fincha-Amerti-Neshe scheme that was implemented in three consecutive stages over almost half a century, combining dams, hydro-power plants, large-scale sugar cane plantations, and a factory for sugar production. The empirical findings follow the historical stages of the scheme and their physical outcomes, which affected much more than just water, energy, and food. The paper explores socio-ecological transformations along the analytical dimensions of time, scale, and power. First, it views time and temporality as essential aspects of change and calls for a more systematic recognition of the historical context out of which development trajectories and current nexus situations have emerged. Second, it takes a cross-scalar perspective to explain how local land use is influenced by regional and global drivers. And third, it emphasizes the importance of asymmetric power structures to explain the dynamics of hydro-developments and their social consequences. In conclusion, the paper calls for a “nexus-plus” perspective that is more sensitive to the historical and cross-scalar embeddedness of hydro-development, and which enables more inclusive and fair governance of scarce resources. Full article

Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is not only a prominent, globally promoted policy to foster nature conservation, but also increasingly propagated as an innovative and self-sustaining governance instrument to support poverty alleviation and to guarantee water, food, and energy securities. In this paper, we evaluate a PES scheme from a multi-scalar and political-ecology perspective in order to reveal different power dynamics across the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus perspective. For this purpose, we analyze the PES scheme implemented in the Hidrosogamoso hydropower project in Colombia. The paper shows that actors’ strongly divergent economic and political power is determinant in defining how and for whom the Nexus-related water, food, and energy securities are materialized. In this case, the PES scheme and its scalar politics, as fostered by the private/public hydropower alliance, are instrumental to guaranteeing water security for the hydropower scheme, which is a crucial building-block of Colombia’s energy security discourse. For this, the water and food securities of the adjacent, less powerful communities are sacrificed. Examining the on-the-ground politics of WEF Nexus is key to understanding their impact on equitable and sustainable governance of water, energy, and food in the everyday lives of millions of resource users. We conclude that politicizing the Nexus can help to trace both the flows of resources and the flows of power. Full article

Urban metabolism analyzes the supply and consumption of nutrition, material, energy, and other resources within cities. Food, water, and energy are critical resources for the human society and have complicated cooperative/competitive influences on each other. The management of interactive resources is essential for supply chain analysis. This research analyzes the food-water-energy system of urban metabolism for sustainable resources management. A system dynamics model is established to investigate the urban metabolism of food, water, and energy resources. This study conducts a case study of Shihmen Reservoir system, hydropower generation, paddy rice irrigation of Taoyuan and Shihmen Irrigation Associations, and water consumption in Taoyuan, New Taipei, and Hsinchu cities. The interactive influence of the food-water-energy nexus is quantified in this study; the uncertainty analysis of food, water, and energy nexus is presented. Full article