A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study
Nowadays, food production systems play a relevant role as the steady increase of global population and food demand. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a suitable approach to tackle resources management associated with these three pillars recognizing synergies and trade-offs. Different approaches h...
| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Elsevier
2024
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| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173374 |
| _version_ | 1855529922888466432 |
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| author | Vasquez-Ibarra, L. Rebolledo-Leiva, R. Entrena-Barbero, E. Fernandez, M. Feijoo, G. Gonzalez-Garcia, S. Moreira, M. T. |
| author_browse | Entrena-Barbero, E. Feijoo, G. Fernandez, M. Gonzalez-Garcia, S. Moreira, M. T. Rebolledo-Leiva, R. Vasquez-Ibarra, L. |
| author_facet | Vasquez-Ibarra, L. Rebolledo-Leiva, R. Entrena-Barbero, E. Fernandez, M. Feijoo, G. Gonzalez-Garcia, S. Moreira, M. T. |
| author_sort | Vasquez-Ibarra, L. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Nowadays, food production systems play a relevant role as the steady increase of global population and food demand. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a suitable approach to tackle resources management associated with these three pillars recognizing synergies and trade-offs. Different approaches have been used in the literature to measure the WEF nexus, being material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), two of the most proven methodologies. The MFA approach is based on the amount of resources consumed, while using the LCA perspective considers all flows of the system (LCA footprints approach) or considering only the flows associated with water, energy, and food pillars as the inventory data (WEF-LCA approach). This manuscript compares the three mentioned approaches to identify their strengths and weaknesses. To do this, a sample of 100 Spanish dairy farms is analysed, where a single WEF nexus index (WEFni) is obtained using Data Envelopment Analysis. Results show that only four farms achieved a WEFni equal to 100 in all approaches, while the main difference between them is the number and type of resources considered for calculating the WEF nexus, which could imply a partial identification of hotspots of food systems. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace173374 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publishDateRange | 2024 |
| publishDateSort | 2024 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| publisherStr | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1733742025-10-26T13:01:49Z A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study Vasquez-Ibarra, L. Rebolledo-Leiva, R. Entrena-Barbero, E. Fernandez, M. Feijoo, G. Gonzalez-Garcia, S. Moreira, M. T. Nowadays, food production systems play a relevant role as the steady increase of global population and food demand. The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus is a suitable approach to tackle resources management associated with these three pillars recognizing synergies and trade-offs. Different approaches have been used in the literature to measure the WEF nexus, being material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), two of the most proven methodologies. The MFA approach is based on the amount of resources consumed, while using the LCA perspective considers all flows of the system (LCA footprints approach) or considering only the flows associated with water, energy, and food pillars as the inventory data (WEF-LCA approach). This manuscript compares the three mentioned approaches to identify their strengths and weaknesses. To do this, a sample of 100 Spanish dairy farms is analysed, where a single WEF nexus index (WEFni) is obtained using Data Envelopment Analysis. Results show that only four farms achieved a WEFni equal to 100 in all approaches, while the main difference between them is the number and type of resources considered for calculating the WEF nexus, which could imply a partial identification of hotspots of food systems. 2024-12 2025-02-25T08:24:36Z 2025-02-25T08:24:36Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173374 en Open Access Elsevier Vasquez-Ibarra, L.; Rebolledo-Leiva, R.; Entrena-Barbero, E.; Fernandez, M.; Feijoo, G.; Gonzalez-Garcia, S.; Moreira, M. T. 2024. A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study. Future Foods, 10:100444. [doi.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fufo.2024.100444] |
| spellingShingle | Vasquez-Ibarra, L. Rebolledo-Leiva, R. Entrena-Barbero, E. Fernandez, M. Feijoo, G. Gonzalez-Garcia, S. Moreira, M. T. A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study |
| title | A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study |
| title_full | A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study |
| title_fullStr | A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study |
| title_full_unstemmed | A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study |
| title_short | A material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the Water-Energy-Food nexus assessment of organisations? A comparative study |
| title_sort | material flow or life cycle analysis perspective for the water energy food nexus assessment of organisations a comparative study |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/173374 |
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