Integrative technology hubs for urban food-energy-water nexuses and cost-benefit-risk tradeoffs (II): Design strategies for urban sustainability

The Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus for urban sustainability needs to be analyzed via an integrative rather than a sectoral or silo approach, reflecting the ongoing transition from separate infrastructure systems to an integrated social-ecological-infrastructure system. As technology hubs can provide food, energy, water resources via...

Water Energy Food nexus: 3 Cases on Resource Demand of Urban Farming and Resource Availability in Urban Waters in Amsterdam and Boston

Urban agriculture lies at the core of the Water Energy Food nexus and seems to provide a partial answer to confront modern trends such as population growth, climate change and resource depletion by increasing food security in cities and enhancing sustainability in an urban realm. The assembly of a WEF nexus framework taught, however, that most...

Strategies for integrated governance of the water-energy-food nexus in Bonaire

The island of Bonaire is planning multiple sustainable transitions in the water,<br/>energy and food systems in response to numerous challenges, such as increas-<br/>ing population pressure, rising sea levels, environmental damage, high consumer<br/>prices and import dependency. The water-energy-food nexus is a relatively novel<br/>concept that...

Food Waste through the Food-Water-Energy Nexus Lenses: A Case Study of Amsterdam

Food waste is a global issue that causes various but significant global impacts, wasting millions of hectares of arable land, 0.75 to 1.25 trillion of cubic meter of water per year, and about 1.5% of the global energy production. In developed nations, food waste occurs mainly at the retail and consumer stage. By 2050, 80% of the global food...

Investigating the suitability of simplified, partial LCA results to support decisions to minimise Nexus impacts from restaurant meal consumption in small Dutch cities

Environmental impacts related to the global food system are increasingly addressed by academia, institutions, policy-makers and businesses. Fundamentally, decisions about food consumption rest with the customer, and although they are the largest stakeholder group in the food system, they are not adequately equipped to consider the environmental...

A Multi-Objective Approach for the Analysis of a Water-Food-Ecosystems Nexus at Basin Scale

Defining water-related energy for global comparison, clearer communication, and sharper policy

The need for energy in water provision and use is obvious, however the drivers are often complex, difficult to assess, and often inconsistently presented. Here we build a clearer definition and conceptual framework of “water-related energy”. We apply this framework to harmonise data and results across disparate studies so that regional...

Maximizing Water--Food--Energy Nexus Synergies at Basin Scale

In this short paper, we show how solutions for mitigating resource security in one sector can be found in another. We demonstrate—by means of a case study in Burkina Faso and Ghana—how investing in the electricity grid in the south leads to increase food security in the north. A new nexus framework was developed (‘MAXUS’) which was built to...

Toward Sustainable Consumption: Model-Based Policy Analysis on Household Food, Energy, and Water Consumption in The Netherlands

The need for water, energy, and food resources is central to human being. Demand of these resources will increase as global population increases. By 2050 it is expected that combination of population growth and economic development will lead to 50% increase of global water and food demand, while energy demand will be doubled. Addressing...

MAXUS: Synergizing water, food and energy policy

Population growth, meat-focused diets and emerging industries are increasing stress on water, energy and food (hereafter: WEF) supply around the globe. As stress on the resources rises, the interdependencies between the sectors become more apparent and often lead to unforeseen chain reactions. An example of which is: a drought leads to...

Influence profile of wastewater chain in Amsterdam: Towards resilient system for phosphorus recovery and Valorisation

The wastewater system of Amsterdam offers an opportunity to recover phosphorus, and contribute to circular economy. However, it remains unclear where to intervene in system to maximize recovery and valorisation in a resilient and feasible way. The Design Structure Matrix method was tested to define the system architecture from Food-Water-Energy...

Water-food nexus: modelling the inter-linkages between food prices, deforestation, and the water balance in northern South America

Forests can influence local and regional weather and climate by various mechanisms. The importance of forests as a key regulator of moisture circulation has been shown by many studies. The Amazon rainforest is the lifeline for the conservation of the biodiversity of the region. However, since the last three decades, the deforestation trend in...

Weshareit: A Nexus Approach To Nile Basin Water Resources Management

A Literal Intervention in the Context of Centro Habana: The Collective (In)Between

The graduation thesis project seeks to develop a design methodology that could function in a sustainable way within the constraints of the context of overpopulated and heavily decayed building stock of Centro Habana, in the city of Havana, Cuba. The intention of the project is to generate transformation in the stagnated built environment. The...