Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region
Alternative food production technologies are being developed to meet the global increase in population and demand for a more sustainable food supply. Aquaponics, a combined method of vegetable and fish production, is an emerging technology that is widely regarded as sustainable. Yet, there has been...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 2024-10-13T14:06:08+00:00 Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region Elnour, Mugahid Haller, Henrik Martin, Michael 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Sustainability volume 3 ISSN 2673-4524 journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 2024-09-24T04:03:17Z Alternative food production technologies are being developed to meet the global increase in population and demand for a more sustainable food supply. Aquaponics, a combined method of vegetable and fish production, is an emerging technology that is widely regarded as sustainable. Yet, there has been limited research on its environmental performance, especially at a commercial scale. In this study, life cycle analysis (LCA) was used to assess the environmental impacts of food produced by an urban commercial aquaponic system located next to a retail store in a cold-weather region (Ă–stersund, Sweden). The functional unit (FU) used is 1 kg of fresh produce, which includes cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ), tomatoes ( Solanum Lycopersicum ), and Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ). The system boundary is set from cradle to farm or retailer's gate due to the proximity of the aquaponic system to the retail store. Results were reported employing eight environmental impact categories, including global warming potential (GWP), marine eutrophication (MEU), and cumulative energy demand (CED). According to contribution analysis, the main hotspots of the system are electricity, CO 2 enrichment, and heating. Potential areas to mitigate the impact of these parameters were highlighted in this study, including the establishment of symbiotic links to utilize urban waste and by-products. The impact per vegetable or fish produced was partitioned using energy and economic allocation and compared to other common cultivation methods. The yearly harvest from the aquaponic system was also compared to importing these food items from other European countries which showed lower annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the aquaponic system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Salmo salar Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Sustainability 3 |
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Alternative food production technologies are being developed to meet the global increase in population and demand for a more sustainable food supply. Aquaponics, a combined method of vegetable and fish production, is an emerging technology that is widely regarded as sustainable. Yet, there has been limited research on its environmental performance, especially at a commercial scale. In this study, life cycle analysis (LCA) was used to assess the environmental impacts of food produced by an urban commercial aquaponic system located next to a retail store in a cold-weather region (Ă–stersund, Sweden). The functional unit (FU) used is 1 kg of fresh produce, which includes cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ), tomatoes ( Solanum Lycopersicum ), and Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ). The system boundary is set from cradle to farm or retailer's gate due to the proximity of the aquaponic system to the retail store. Results were reported employing eight environmental impact categories, including global warming potential (GWP), marine eutrophication (MEU), and cumulative energy demand (CED). According to contribution analysis, the main hotspots of the system are electricity, CO 2 enrichment, and heating. Potential areas to mitigate the impact of these parameters were highlighted in this study, including the establishment of symbiotic links to utilize urban waste and by-products. The impact per vegetable or fish produced was partitioned using energy and economic allocation and compared to other common cultivation methods. The yearly harvest from the aquaponic system was also compared to importing these food items from other European countries which showed lower annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the aquaponic system. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Elnour, Mugahid Haller, Henrik Martin, Michael |
spellingShingle |
Elnour, Mugahid Haller, Henrik Martin, Michael Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
author_facet |
Elnour, Mugahid Haller, Henrik Martin, Michael |
author_sort |
Elnour, Mugahid |
title |
Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
title_short |
Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
title_full |
Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
title_fullStr |
Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
title_sort |
life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091/full |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_source |
Frontiers in Sustainability volume 3 ISSN 2673-4524 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Sustainability |
container_volume |
3 |
_version_ |
1812812187398307840 |