A joint use of life cycle assessment and emergy analysis for sustainability evaluation of an intensive agro-system in China

Yichao Wang and Guishen Zhao ()
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Yichao Wang: China Agricultural University
Guishen Zhao: China Agricultural University

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2022, vol. 24, issue 10, No 23, 12019-12035

Abstract: Abstract Sustainability assessing on agricultural production systems has developed rapidly over the last two decades, and various models are formulated from different perspectives. However, a comprehensive evaluation model that involved both efficiency of system output and environmental impact has not yet been fully explored. Here, we combined the emergy method with life cycle assessment to construct a coupled model for sustainability evaluation, taking an intensive winter wheat–summer maize cropping system in Huantai County, China, as a case study, which was examined before and after the Project of Soil Testing and Fertilizer Recommendation (PSTFR). Our results showed that compared with 1996, the sustainability index (SI) of this cropping system in 2012 increased by 50.37%, indicating that the sustainability of the target system was further enhanced. The emergy yield ratio (EYR) increased by 21.8% in 2012, while the potential damage to human health (HH) and the potential damage to ecosystem health (ESH) in 2012 were lower than those in 1996, by 22.38% and 15.17%, respectively; and the environmental impact index (EII) decreased by 19.00%. Though there was a remarkable improvement in the SI, the proportion of irrigation water in total emergy input was still as high as 46.0%, followed by nitrogen fertilizer, accounting for 23.60%. According to the coupled model, reducing irrigation water and electricity consumption, and reducing the application of nitrogen fertilizer, could contribute the most to further improvements in sustainability. Furthermore, this novel coupled model has high potential to measure sustainability of an agro-system, while needs further improvement and modification in the future.

Keywords: Sustainability; Emergy analysis; Life cycle assessment; Agro-ecosystem; Coupled model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01929-5

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