Energy modelling and the Nexus concept

Brouwer, F.; Avgerinopoulos, Georgios; Fazekas, Dora; Laspidou, Chrysi; Mercure, Jean-François; Pollitt, Hector; Ramos, Eunice; Howells, Mark

doi:10.1016/j.esr.2017.10.005

Cited by 71 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As a systems analysis, the Nexus has been included in policy goals such as circular economy, low-carbon economy, resource efficiency, sustainable development, access to clean water and social welfare (Yillia, 2016;Brears, 2018;Brouwer et al, 2018). Remarkably, such deterministic and modular Nexus framework, facilitates mathematical modeling of systems as resources, i.e., (sources of) water, (forms of) energy, and (specific) food crops.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Addressing a system/sector in isolation and ignoring Nexus synergies and trade-offs can produce misleading results and are inadequate to provide basic services to the poorest and fail to adequately cope with climate change (Brouwer et al, 2018). Hence, rather than looking into systems in isolation, nexus approaches promote the trans-disciplinary and trans-sectorial joint analysis, assessment, modeling and management of the multi-faceted linkages and interactions between systems (Howartha and Monasterolo, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Nexusing Charcoal in South Mozambique: A Proposal To Integrate the Nexus Charcoal-Food-Water Analysis With a Participatory Analytical and Systemic Tool

Martins

2018

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Nexus analysis identifies and explores the synergies and trade-offs between energy, food and water systems, considered as interdependent systems interacting with contextual drivers (e.g., climate change, poverty). The nexus is, thus, a valuable analytical and policy design supporting tool to address the widely discussed links between bioenergy, food and water. In fact, the Nexus provides a more integrative and broad approach in relation to the single isolated system approach that characterizes many bioenergy analysis and policies of the last decades. In particular, for the South of Mozambique, charcoal production, food insecurity and water scarcity have been related in separated studies and, thus, it would be expected that Nexus analysis has the potential to provide the basis for integrated policies and strategies focused on charcoal as a development factor. However, to date there is no Nexus analysis focused on charcoal in Mozambique, neither is there an assessment of the comprehensiveness and relevance of Nexus analysis when applied to charcoal energy systems. To address these gaps, this work applies the Nexus to the charcoal-food-water system in Mozambique, integrating national, regional and international studies analysing the isolated, or pairs of, systems. This integration results in a novel Nexus analysis graphic for charcoal-food-water relationship. Then, to access the comprehensiveness and depth of analysis, this Nexus analysis is critically compared with the 2MBio-A, a systems analytical and design framework based on a design tool specifically developed for Bioenergy (the 2MBio). The results reveal that Nexus analysis is "blind" to specific fundamental social, ecological and socio-historical dynamics of charcoal energy systems. The critical comparison also suggests the need to integrate the high level systems analysis of Nexus with non-deterministic, non-prescriptive participatory analysis tools, like the 2MBio-A, as a means to increase sensitivity to the specifics of charcoal systems while keeping the practical benefits of Nexus as a high level policy design tool. In conceptual terms, this integration promotes open, participatory, integrated, comprehensive and creative analysis and exploration of the Nexus across scales, disciplines and sectors, providing thus, a strong base to design inclusive, sound and robust policies, projects and strategies relating/integrating charcoal, food and water security.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nexusing Charcoal in South Mozambique: A Proposal To Integrate the Nexus Charcoal-Food-Water Analysis With a Participatory Analytical and Systemic Tool

Martins

2018

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…SIM4NEXUS adds the learning from playing the serious game and testing nexus-compliant policies. In addressing nexus-wide interconnections, system-wide trade-offs and synergies can be sought, with benefits for multi-sectoral policy development and planning [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, global issues often require local actions [13]. Full understanding of this nexus and characterization of its internal feedbacks is required in order to be able to make informed, meaningful (policy) decisions [14]. Herein lies a current gap in understanding, as many previous studies either: (1) consider only one or perhaps two nexus sectors, neglecting impacts on the others [7,15]; or (2) consider more sectors, but only for very local, specific case studies that lack wider applicability [16,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Stakeholder Development of a Serious Game to Explore the Water-Energy-Food-Land-Climate Nexus: The SIM4NEXUS Approach

Sušnik

Chew

Domingo³

et al. 2018

Water

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Water, energy, food, land and climate form a tightly-connected nexus in which actions on one sector impact other sectors, creating feedbacks and unanticipated consequences. This is especially because at present, much scientific research and many policies are constrained to single discipline/sector silos that are often not interacting (e.g., water-related research/policy). However, experimenting with the interaction and determining how a change in one sector could impact another may require unreasonable time frames, be very difficult in practice and may be potentially dangerous, triggering any one of a number of unanticipated side-effects. Current modelling often neglects knowledge from practice. Therefore, a safe environment is required to test the potential cross-sectoral implications of policy decisions in one sector on other sectors. Serious games offer such an environment by creating realistic 'simulations', where long-term impacts of policies may be tested and rated. This paper describes how the ongoing (2016-2020) Horizon2020 project SIM4NEXUS will develop serious games investigating potential plausible cross-nexus implications and synergies due to policy interventions for 12 multi-scale case studies ranging from regional to global. What sets these games apart is that stakeholders and partners are involved in all aspects of the modelling definition and process, from case study conceptualisation, quantitative model development including the implementation and validation of each serious game. Learning from playing a serious game is justified by adopting a proof-of-concept for a specific regional case study in Sardinia (Italy). The value of multi-stakeholder involvement is demonstrated, and critical lessons learned for serious game development in general are presented.

show abstract

“…As a result, responding to a challenge in the management of one resource, such as water, often creates challenges for the management of others, such as energy, or food. The collective and integrated management of these resources using a Nexus approach should be used to increase resource-use efficiency and minimize environmental risks and ecological degradation [2]. Even though the Nexus concept has been present in the sustainable development rhetoric for a few decades, it has only gathered a lot of attention within scientific and policy disciplines over the last ten years [3], especially including the interactions across the Water-Energy and Water-Energy-Food domains [4], which become critical as the pressures of population growth and climate change increase.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the Water-Energy-Food-Land Use-Climate Nexus: The Nexus Tree Approach

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has established the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, implying that the three commodities are inextricably linked forming a complex system of interrelations. Perceiving water, energy and food as a system variable with dependencies rather than a singularity suggests an approach of a more holistic view that can offer a sustainable plan for managing resources. In this article, the already established three-way Nexus is expanded to include two more dimensions, namely land use and climate and a framework for modelling the interlinkages among these dimensions is presented.

show abstract

Energy modelling and the Nexus concept

Cited by 71 publications

References 21 publications

Nexusing Charcoal in South Mozambique: A Proposal To Integrate the Nexus Charcoal-Food-Water Analysis With a Participatory Analytical and Systemic Tool

Nexusing Charcoal in South Mozambique: A Proposal To Integrate the Nexus Charcoal-Food-Water Analysis With a Participatory Analytical and Systemic Tool

Multi-Stakeholder Development of a Serious Game to Explore the Water-Energy-Food-Land-Climate Nexus: The SIM4NEXUS Approach

Modelling the Water-Energy-Food-Land Use-Climate Nexus: The Nexus Tree Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About