Quantifying the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Current Status and Trends

Yuan Chang, Guijun Li, Yuan Yao, Lixiao Zhang and Chang Yu
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Guijun Li: School of Management Science and Engineering, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing 100081, China
Yuan Yao: McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
Lixiao Zhang: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Chang Yu: School of Economics and Management, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2016, vol. 9, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Water, energy, and food are lifelines for modern societies. The continuously rising world population, growing desires for higher living standards, and inextricable links among the three sectors make the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus a vibrant research pursuit. For the integrated delivery of WEF systems, quantifying WEF connections helps understand synergies and trade-offs across the water, energy, and food sectors, and thus is a critical initial step toward integrated WEF nexus modeling and management. However, current WEF interconnection quantifications encounter methodological hurdles. Also, existing calculation results are scattered across a wide collection of studies in multiple disciplines, which increases data collection and interpretation difficulties. To advance robust WEF nexus quantifications and further contribute to integrated WEF systems modeling and management, this study: (i) summarizes the estimate results to date on WEF interconnections; (ii) analyzes methodological and practical challenges associated with WEF interconnection calculations; and (iii) points out opportunities for enabling robust WEF nexus quantifications in the future.

Keywords: footprint quantification; interconnection; water-energy-food (WEF) system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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