Assessing Energy and Environmental Efficiency of the Spanish Agri-Food System Using the LCA/DEA Methodology

Laso, Jara; Hoehn, Daniel; Margallo, María; Garcia‐Herrero, Isabel; Batlle-Bayer, Laura; Bala, Alba; Fullana–i–Palmer, Pere; Vázquez‐Rowe, Ian; Irabien, Ángel; Aldaco, Rubén

doi:10.3390/en11123395

Cited by 41 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(84 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Figure 8 presents the graphical representation of the efficient and inefficient DMUs along the frontier, in which case DMU 2 is the best performer and is used as a reference for all other DMUs. In those regards further improvement of efficiency scores for inefficient DMUs can be achieved through the implementation of good practices of the efficient ones [73].…”

Section: Bias Correction and Returns Of Scale In Deamentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Energy Efficiency of EU Member States: The Potential of Energy Recovery from Waste in the Circular Economy

Halkos

Petrou

2019

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines energy efficiency across 28 selected European Union (EU) Member States and reviews the potential for energy recovery from waste according to the efficiency scores obtained. The efficiencies are assessed through data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the following variables are used, inputs: final energy consumption, labour, capital, population density and outputs: gross domestic product (GDP), nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, sulphur oxide (SOx) emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the years 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. Results show that most countries maintain their efficiency scores with only a few marginally improving theirs and at the same time, it is noticed that most are decreasing after 2012. Based on these efficiency scores, this paper recommends moving towards waste-to-energy with two main objectives, namely sufficient and sustainable energy production and effective treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW). This option would enhance the circular economy, whereas prioritization needs to be given to prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling and energy recovery through to disposal. Together with the EU Commission’s competition strategy, these options would ensure reliable energy supplies at rational prices and with the least environmental impacts. Moreover the efficiency scores need to be examined along the financial crisis which has been affecting the EU since 2008, showing a decrease in those efficiency scores after 2012 under a more imminent crisis.

show abstract

Section: Bias Correction and Returns Of Scale In Deamentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysing the Energy Efficiency of EU Member States: The Potential of Energy Recovery from Waste in the Circular Economy

Halkos

Petrou

2019

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There have been increasing concerns in providing sufficient food at acceptable quality to the continuously rising human population worldwide, addressed in [104] for the case of Spain. The study applies a combination of life-cycle assessment and data envelopment analysis to assess the energy efficiency of the Spanish agri-food system.…”

Section: Recent Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Efficient and Clean Process Integration: Utilisation of Renewable Resources and Energy-Saving Technologies

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The strong demand for sustainable energy supplies had escalated the discovery, and intensive research into cleaner energy sources, as well as efficient energy management practices. In the context of the circular economy, the efforts target not only the optimisation of resource utilisation at various stages, but the products’ eco-design is also emphasized to extend their life spans. Based on the concept of comprehensive circular integration, this review discusses the roles of Process Integration approaches, renewable energy sources utilisation and design modifications in addressing the process of energy and exergy efficiency improvement. The primary focus is to enhance the economic and environmental performance through process analysis, modelling and optimisation. The paper is categorised into sections to show the contribution of each aspect clearly, namely: (a) Design and numerical study for innovative energy-efficient technologies; (b) Process Integration—heat and power; (c) Process energy efficiency or emissions analysis; (d) Optimisation of renewable energy resources supply chain. Each section is assessed based on the latest contribution of this journal’s Special Issue from the 21st conference on Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES 2018). The key results are highlighted and summarised within the broader context of the state of the art development.

show abstract

“…The experimental verification for the all variants of control measures were not carried out in the same test beds of a greenhouse due to several reasons, and the variant of pump on-off by the beds, which was designed to seek a degree of freedom on heat supply by a bed in contrast to the simultaneous supply to all beds, was applied on both test greenhouse. The dimension of the first greenhouse test bed (greenhouse A) was 70 × 8.3 m of area and the inside volume was about 2146 m 3 . The other experiment greenhouse test bed (greenhouse B) had the dimensions of heating areas of 25 × 6 m, and volume of 400 m 3 , which was relatively smaller to the first one.…”

Section: Specification Of Test Greenhouses and Control Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, as shown in Figures 7 and 8, the sensor modules are arranged to cover the one sectional area of the greenhouse to monitor the variation of the thermal variables in real-time, which was applied in the experiment of test greenhouse A, or they are re-arranged in the longitudinal direction to investigate the variation in that direction, for test greenhouse B. In case of a test greenhouse A, the whole control volume of the test building, about 2000 m 3 , is covered by a sensor node in the center under the assumption that the thermal variables were in uniform condition or had a minor deviation from the value of monitored data. However, with the multiple sensor nodes system, it can be reduced up to 100 m 3 , a twentieth of its original volume so as to substantially improve the level of preciseness for the control.…”

Section: Specification For the Monitoring System Of Multiple Sensor Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the effects of climate change are becoming persistently serious, it is reported that we will need 50% more energy, 40% more water, and 35% more food, which is in reference to the statistics that a population of about 8.3 billion will be attained by 2030 [1,2] and that the food system will consume more or less 30% of the final energy use, along with the current trend of natural resource exploitation and the corresponding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission increase by the same rate [3]. However, overcoming the shortage of water and securing a fat supply of food will come down to an energy problem, since production of fresh water and food also require a substantial amount of energy; and the consequent additional production of heat and power with fossil fuels to cope with the aforementioned energy problems can lead to the extra emission of greenhouse gases, thus making the situation of climate change worse.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Study of the Effects of Enhanced Uniformity Control of Greenhouse Environment Variables on Crop Growth

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In order to ensure high crop yield and good quality in greenhouse horticulture, the major environment control variables, such as temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentration, etc., need to be controlled properly, in order to reduce harmful effects on crop growth by minimizing the fluctuation of the thermal condition. Even though a hot water-based heating system is evidently superior to a hot air-based heating system, in terms of the thermally stable condition or energy saving, a hot air-based heating system has occupied the domestic market due to its economic efficiency from an initial investment cost saving. However, the intrinsic drawbacks of a hot air-based heating system, being more frequent variation of thermal variables and an inordinate disturbance on crops due to its convective heat delivery nature, are believed to be the main reasons for the insufficient crop yield and/or the quality deterioration. In addition, the current thermal environment monitoring system in a greenhouse, in which a sole sensor node usually covers a large part of cultivating area, seems to have a profound need of improvement in order to resolve those problems, in that the assumption of thermal uniform condition, which is adequate for a sole sensor node system, cannot be ensured in some cases. In this study, the qualitative concept of the new control variable—the degree of uniformity—is suggested as an indicator to seek ways of enhancing the crop yield and its quality based on the multiple sensor nodes system with a wireless sensor network. In contrast to a conventional monitoring system, for which a newly suggested concept of qualitative variable cannot be estimated at all, the multiple sensor nodes-based thermal monitoring system can provide more accurate and precise sensing, which enables the degree of uniformity to be checked in real-time and thus more precise control becomes possible as a consequence. From the analysis of the results of the experiment and simulation, it is found that the crops in plastic vinyl houses can be exposed to a serious level of non-uniform thermal condition. For instance, the temperature difference in the longitudinal and widthwise direction is 3.0 °C and 6.5 °C, respectively for the case of 75 × 8 m dimension greenhouse during a typical winter season, and it can be hypothesized that this level of non-uniformity might cause considerable damage to crop growth. In this paper, several variants of control systems, within the framework of the multiple sensor nodes system, is proposed to provide a more thermally-stable cultivating environment and the experimental verification is carried out for different scales of test greenhouses. The results showed that a simple change of heating mode (i.e., from a hot air- to a hot water-based heating system) can bring about a significant improvement for the non-uniformity of temperature (more or less 80%), and an additional countermeasure, with local heat flux control, can lead to a supplementary cut of non-uniformity up to 90%. Among the several variants of local heat flux control systems, the hydraulic proportional mass flow control valve system was proven to represent the best performance, and it can be hypothesized that the newly suggested qualitative variable—the degree of uniformity—with the multiple sensor nodes system can be a good alternative for seeking enhanced cultivating performance, being higher crop yield and better quality along with energy cost saving.

show abstract

Assessing Energy and Environmental Efficiency of the Spanish Agri-Food System Using the LCA/DEA Methodology

Cited by 41 publications

References 60 publications

Analysing the Energy Efficiency of EU Member States: The Potential of Energy Recovery from Waste in the Circular Economy

Analysing the Energy Efficiency of EU Member States: The Potential of Energy Recovery from Waste in the Circular Economy

Towards Efficient and Clean Process Integration: Utilisation of Renewable Resources and Energy-Saving Technologies

A Study of the Effects of Enhanced Uniformity Control of Greenhouse Environment Variables on Crop Growth

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About