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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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:699ea375ebf24eb489f878361c6c32d8 2023-05-15T15:32:49+02:00 Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region Mugahid Elnour Henrik Haller Michael Martin 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://doaj.org/article/699ea375ebf24eb489f878361c6c32d8 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091/full https://doaj.org/toc/2673-4524 2673-4524 doi:10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://doaj.org/article/699ea375ebf24eb489f878361c6c32d8 Frontiers in Sustainability, Vol 3 (2023) aquaponic system environmental impacts life cycle assessment urban farming food production cold climate agriculture Economic theory. Demography HB1-3840 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 2023-01-15T01:26:59Z 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 (Östersund, 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, CO2 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 Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Frontiers in Sustainability 3 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
aquaponic system environmental impacts life cycle assessment urban farming food production cold climate agriculture Economic theory. Demography HB1-3840 |
spellingShingle |
aquaponic system environmental impacts life cycle assessment urban farming food production cold climate agriculture Economic theory. Demography HB1-3840 Mugahid Elnour Henrik Haller Michael Martin Life cycle assessment of a retail store aquaponic system in a cold-weather region |
topic_facet |
aquaponic system environmental impacts life cycle assessment urban farming food production cold climate agriculture Economic theory. Demography HB1-3840 |
description |
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 (Östersund, 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, CO2 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 |
Mugahid Elnour Henrik Haller Michael Martin |
author_facet |
Mugahid Elnour Henrik Haller Michael Martin |
author_sort |
Mugahid Elnour |
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 S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://doaj.org/article/699ea375ebf24eb489f878361c6c32d8 |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_source |
Frontiers in Sustainability, Vol 3 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091/full https://doaj.org/toc/2673-4524 2673-4524 doi:10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 https://doaj.org/article/699ea375ebf24eb489f878361c6c32d8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2022.1051091 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Sustainability |
container_volume |
3 |
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1766363306881187840 |