Energy-Environmental Impact Assessment of Greenhouse Grown Tomato: A Case Study in Almeria (Spain)

Katia Hueso-Kortekaas, José C. Romero and Raquel González-Felipe
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Katia Hueso-Kortekaas: ICAI School of Engineering, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain
José C. Romero: Institute for Research in Technology (IIT), ICAI School of Engineering, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain
Raquel González-Felipe: ICAI School of Engineering, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, 28015 Madrid, Spain

World, 2021, vol. 2, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: Tomato is one of the most common crops across the world, but it is also one of the types of food that generates the most losses across its life cycle. This paper addresses this issue by providing a Life Cycle Analysis of greenhouse grown tomato in southern Spain. The results confirm that tomatoes are a thirsty and frail crop. Most of its energy demands and carbon emissions go to packaging (35%) and transportation (42%) as well as supplying water for their growth. There seems to be room for improvement in the recovery of energy (54.6%) and CO 2 emissions, mainly addressing the waste treatment of packaging and plastic as well as improving transportation. Despite being highly water demanding, irrigation processes are already efficient in industrial greenhouses, and most of the water recovery will need to take place in the waste recovery stage. Food losses at the consumption phases do not constitute a significant loss in energy or a significant amount of carbon emissions saved.

Keywords: life cycle analysis; tomato; environmental impact (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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