Model Use in WEF Nexus Analysis: a Review of Issues

McCarl, Bruce A.; Yang, Yingqian; Schwabe, K.; Engel, Bernard A.; Mondal, Alam Hossain; Ringler, Claudia; Pistikopoulos, Efstratios N.

doi:10.1007/s40518-017-0078-0

Cited by 35 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The FEW nexus is an emerging research focus for natural and social scientists who are exploring the impact of water limitations on the production of energy and food (Jones et al, ; Rulli et al, ; Scanlon et al, ), and the extent to which the human pressure on the global freshwater system is expected to increase in response to the growing demand for food and energy (Chiarelli et al, ; Grafton et al, ). Although advancements have been made in terms of understanding linkages among FEW systems (e.g., Biggs et al, ; Jones et al, ; Liu et al, ; Ringler et al, ; Smajgl et al, ) and working toward integrated modeling (Bazilian et al, ; McCarl et al, ), the highly interdisciplinary nature of FEW research has resulted in somewhat disparate clusters of FEW studies. This article seeks to review and synthesize a broad set of issues related to each FEW system individually (see sections 2–4), then outline a range of intersections among each system—“nexus” points—relevant to scholars in environmental sciences, engineering, economics, political ecology, and other social sciences and analyze their pairwise interactions (i.e., food‐water, water‐energy, and food‐energy; Figure ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

D’Odorico

Davis

Rosa

et al. 2018

Reviews of Geophysics

529

248

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Water availability is a major factor constraining humanity's ability to meet the future food and energy needs of a growing and increasingly affluent human population. Water plays an important role in the production of energy, including renewable energy sources and the extraction of unconventional fossil fuels that are expected to become important players in future energy security. The emergent competition for water between the food and energy systems is increasingly recognized in the concept of the “food‐energy‐water nexus.” The nexus between food and water is made even more complex by the globalization of agriculture and rapid growth in food trade, which results in a massive virtual transfer of water among regions and plays an important role in the food and water security of some regions. This review explores multiple components of the food‐energy‐water nexus and highlights possible approaches that could be used to meet food and energy security with the limited renewable water resources of the planet. Despite clear tensions inherent in meeting the growing and changing demand for food and energy in the 21st century, the inherent linkages among food, water, and energy systems can offer an opportunity for synergistic strategies aimed at resilient food, water, and energy security, such as the circular economy.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

D’Odorico

Davis

Rosa

et al. 2018

Reviews of Geophysics

529

248

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, Nerini et al (2019) find that climate action (SDG 13) can reinforce all 17 SDGs but also generate trade-offs with 12 other objectives. The "water-energy-food nexus" has been explored in multiple studies: Khan et al (2017) review the water-energy nexus, Hamidov and Helming (2020) focus on the link to agriculture, while Bazilian et al (2011), Miralles-Wilhelm (2016), McCarl et al (2017), and Johnson et al (2019) review modeling and research challenges. Those interrelations also connect different spatial and temporal scales: power is exchanged over large power pools, crops are traded across the entire globe, rivers flow through multiple countries, and CO 2 emissions affect global climate for centuries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nexus vs. Silo Investment Planning Under Uncertainty

Payet-Burin¹,

Kromann²,

Pereira-Cardenal³

et al. 2021

Front. Water

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Water, energy, and agricultural infrastructure investments have important inter-relations fulfilling potentially competing objectives. When shaping investment plans, decision makers need to evaluate those interactions and the associated uncertainties. We compare planning infrastructure under uncertainty with an integrated water-energy-food nexus framework and with sector-centered (silo) frameworks. We use WHAT-IF, an open-source hydroeconomic decision support tool with a holistic representation of the power and agriculture sectors. The tool is applied to an illustrative synthetic case and to a complex planning problem in the Zambezi River Basin involving reservoirs, hydropower, irrigation, transmission lines and power plant investments. In the synthetic case, the nexus framework selects investments that generate more synergies across sectors. In sector-centered frameworks, the value of investments that impact multiple sectors (like hydropower, bioenergy, and desalinization) are under- or overestimated. Furthermore, the nexus framework identifies risks related to uncertainties that are not linked to the investments respective sectors. In the Zambezi river case, we find that most investments are mainly sensitive to parameters related to their respective sectors, and that financial parameters like discount rate, capital costs or carbon taxes are driving the feasibility of investments. However, trade-offs between water for irrigation and water for hydropower are important; ignoring trade-offs in silo frameworks increases the irrigation expansion that is perceived as beneficial by 22% compared to a nexus framework that considers irrigation and hydropower jointly. Planning in a nexus framework is expected to be particularly important when projects and uncertainties can considerably affect the current equilibrium.

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“…Since a few years, efforts are being undertaken to represent water availability and/or usage in IAMs (see, e.g., Bouckaert et al 2014;McCarl et al 2017). Nexus case studies have been performed with IAMs for specific countries, notably several in Africa and the MENA region (Al-Riffai et al 2017; van der Zwaan et al 2018).…”

Section: Case Study On the Middle Eastmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Stress Implications of Energy Scenarios for the Middle East: An Assessment of Risks and Uncertainties

Zwaan

Halstead

Kober

2018

Understanding Risks and Uncertainties in Energy and Climate Policy

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Energy, water, and food systems have so far mostly been studied independently. In this chapter, we argue that it is important to take an "energy-water-food nexus approach" to analyzing these three resource systems. After briefly introducing the emerging literature on the energy-water-food nexus, we inspect the interrelationship between energy and water use in the Middle East. We present results for projected power production, water withdrawal, and water consumption levels until 2050 in the Middle East under both baseline and stringent climate policy scenarios. We also analyze how the use of different cooling techniques for the main power production options in the Middle East can yield water withdrawal and consumption savings in the electricity sector in the region. We end by informing authorities responsible for the implementation of energy-water policies on the risks and uncertainties associated with the water usage of future energy systems.

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Model Use in WEF Nexus Analysis: a Review of Issues

Cited by 35 publications

References 17 publications

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

The Global Food‐Energy‐Water Nexus

Nexus vs. Silo Investment Planning Under Uncertainty

Water Stress Implications of Energy Scenarios for the Middle East: An Assessment of Risks and Uncertainties

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