An Organizing Principle for the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

Abstract

The nexus between water, energy, and food has recently evolved as a resource-management concept to deal with this intimately interwoven set of resources, their complex interactions, and the growing and continuously changing internal and external set of influencing factors, including climate change, population growth, habits and lifestyles alternations, and the dynamic prices of water, energy, and food. While an intriguing concept, the global research community is yet to identify a unifying conceptual and mathematical framework capable of adapting to integrate gathered knowledge and ensuring inclusivity by accounting for all significant interactions and feedbacks (including natural processes and anthropogenic inputs) within all nexus domains. We present an organizing roadmap for a conceptual and mathematical representation of the nexus. Our hope is that this representation will organize the nexus research and formalize a way for a generalizable framework that can be used to advance our understanding of those complex interactions, with hope that such an approach will lead to a more resilient future with sustained resources for the future generations.

Solar Photovoltaic Architecture and Agronomic Management in Agrivoltaic System: A Review

“…Solar energy is the most plentiful and readily available source of energy [25,28,47,98]. The use of AVS technologies in areas where a solar farm and agriculture coexist [51,75,109] could have synergistic effects that aid in the production of ecosystem services such as crop production [9,20,38], local climate regulation [34,115,137], water conservation [13,18,56], and renewable energy production [21,87,138]; and it also aligns with food-energy-water (FEW) nexus [34,63,137].…”

“…If the sources of light and carbon dioxide are not limited, an optimum amount of irrigation water is needed to enhance the photosynthesis rate. Thus, regions with insufficient water resources are most likely to benefit as solar management decreases potential evapotranspiration (PET) and water demand [26,51,132,137]. The reducing amount of irrigation water needed without compromising crop-water requirements can make a significant contribution to reducing agricultural production costs, making the industry more competitive and sustainable [18,21,65].…”

“…Also, ET involves evaporation from bodies of surface water, surface of land, sublimation of snow and ice, plant transpiration, and intercepted canopy water [82]. Besides that, the evaporation process that happens also significantly reduces the percentage of soil moisture content [19,41,137]. On the other hand, irrigation water requirements are defined as the quantity of water necessary for crop growth [141,142].…”

“…Most of these studies evaluated the potential of the AV system by utilizing only one or a few crops in their research. Furthermore, fewer studies focus on water management [18,132], even though water management is one of three critical components of AVS [34,137]. The agronomic practices for AV systems are generally similar to common agronomic practices [62,126]; however, precision agricultural methods such as site-specific crop management (SSCM) may be created to better match crop requirements in the field depending on soil heterogeneity [33].…”

“…As agricultural and water management are parts of agronomic management, future studies should emphasize the importance of both managements in a balanced manner [33,132,142]. Also, to advance our understanding of complex interactions between food (agriculture), energy, and water in the AVS system, we require a mathematical framework that can adjust in response to new data and incorporates a wide range of interactions, including natural processes and anthropogenic inputs to sustain resources for future generations [137].…”