Improving Energy Efficiency of Barley Production Using Joint Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Optimization Approach

Abstract

Eco-efficiency has become a cornerstone in improving the environmental and economic performance of farms. The joint use of life cycle assessment (LCA) and data envelopment analysis (DEA), known as LCA + DEA methodology, is an expanding area of research in this quest. LCA estimates the environmental impacts of the products or services, while DEA evaluates their efficiency, providing targets and benchmarks for the inefficient ones. Because energy consumption and environmental quality are highly interdependent, we carried out a study to examine energy efficiency and environmental emissions associated with rain-fed barley farms in Kermanshah Province, Iran. Fifty-four rain-fed barley farms were randomly selected, and production data were collected using questionnaires and interviews. DEA and LCA were used to quantify and compare environmental indicators before and after efficiency improvements were applied to the farms. To accomplish this, efficient and inefficient farms were identified using DEA. Then environmental emissions were measured again after inefficient farms reached the efficiency limit through management improvements. The results showed that by managing resource use, both energy consumption and environmental emissions can be reduced without yield loss. The initial amount of energy consumed averaged 13,443 MJ/ha while that consumed in the optimal state was determined to be 12,509 MJ/h, resulting in a savings of 934 MJ/ha. Based on the results of DEA, reductions in nitrogen fertilizer, diesel fuel, and phosphate fertilizer offered the greatest possibilities for energy savings. Combining DEA and LCA showed that efficient resource management could reduce emissions important to abiotic depletion (fossil fuels), human toxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, global warming (GWP100a), freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, and terrestrial ecotoxicity. This study contributes toward systematically building knowledge about crop production with the joint use of LCA + DEA for eco-efficiency assessment.

Contribution of Production Inputs to Energy Consumption in Wheat Production System for Providing a Solution to Improve Energy Consumption

“…On the other hand, fuel and pesticides are also manageable inputs, such that decreasing the consumed energy in these two inputs can improve the efficiency of the production of irrigated wheat and -in other wordsthe production of more crops by the consumption of each unit of energy. Findings for barley revealed that reduction in the consumption of diesel fuel and chemical fertilizers (such as nitrogen phosphorous) offered the greatest possibilities for energy saving [23] which are compatible with the findings of this research. Biomass can be considered as a source for improving soil nutrient and, thus, reducing fertilizers application, because of lower price, renewable and no secondary pollution [24,25].…”

Eco-Efficiency Analysis to Improve Environmental Performance of Wheat Production

“…The results confirm that an optimization of resource use must be planned for the wheat production units in Iran if the environmental footprint has to be truncated. This has also been advocated strongly by other researches who have applied the LCA + DEA method to agricultural production systems [59][60][61]. In other words, the crux of the LCA + DEA method is the eco-efficiency concept-Units operating inefficiently must learn from the best practices of the efficient units in the region and adopt those in order to reduce their adverse environmental impacts.…”

Exergoenvironmental damages assessment in a desert‐based agricultural system: A case study of date production

“…juice (Khanali et al., 2020), greenhouse strawberry ( Fragaria sp.) (Hosseini‐Fashami et al., 2019), and barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) (Payandeh et al., 2021), durum wheat ( Triticum durum Desf.) (Failla et al., 2020), and oil bearing crops (Restuccia et al., 2013).…”