Greenhouse vegetable production plays a vital role in providing year‐round fresh vegetables to global markets, achieving higher yields, and using less water than open‐field systems, but at the expense of increased energy demand. This study examines the life cycle environmental and economic impacts of integrating semitransparent organic photovoltaics (OPVs) into greenhouse designs. We employ life cycle assessment to analyze six environmental impacts associated with producing greenhouse‐grown tomatoes in a Solar PoweRed INtegrated Greenhouse (SPRING) compared to conventional greenhouses with and without an adjacent solar photovoltaic array, across three distinct locations. The SPRING design produces significant reductions in environmental impacts, particularly in regions with high solar insolation and electricity‐intensive energy demands. For example, in Arizona, global warming potential values for a conventional, adjacent PV and SPRING greenhouse are found to be 3.71, 2.38, and 2.36 kg CO2eq/kg tomato, respectively. Compared to a conventional greenhouse, the SPRING design may increase life cycle environmental burdens in colder regions because the shading effect of OPV increases heating demands. Our analysis shows that SPRING designs must maintain crop yields at levels similar to conventional greenhouses in order to be economically competitive. Assuming consistent crop yields, uncertainty analysis shows average net present cost of production across Arizona to be $3.43, $3.38, and $3.64 per kg of tomato for the conventional, adjacent PV and SPRING system, respectively.
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10334235
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Sustainability
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 20
- ISSN:
- 2071-1050
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 11368
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract -
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Policy Points Suboptimal intake of fruit and vegetables is associated with increased risk of diet‐related diseases. A national retail‐based fruit and vegetable subsidy program could broadly benefit the health of the entire population.
Existing fruit and vegetable subsidy programs can inform potential implementation mechanisms; Congress's powers to tax, spend, and regulate interstate commerce can be leveraged to create a federal program.
Legal and administrative feasibility considerations support a conditional funding program or a federal‐state cooperative program combining regulation, licensing, and state or local options for flexible implementation strategies. Strategies to engage key stakeholders would enable the program to utilize lessons learned from existing programs.
Context Suboptimal intake of fruit and vegetables (F&Vs) is associated with increased risk of diet‐related diseases. Yet, there are no US government programs to support increased F&V consumption nationally for the whole population, most of whom purchase food at retail establishments. To inform policy discussion and implementation, we identified mechanisms to effectuate a national retail‐based F&V subsidy program.
Methods We conducted legal and policy research using LexisNexis, the UConn Rudd Center Legislation Database, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Chronic Disease State Policy Tracking System, the US Department of Agriculture's website, Congress.gov, gray literature, and government reports. First, we identified existing federal, state, local, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) policies and programs that subsidize F&Vs. Second, we evaluated Congress's power to implement a national retail‐based F&V subsidy program.
Findings We found five federal programs, three federal bills, four state laws, and 17 state (including the District of Columbia [DC]) bills to appropriate money to supplement federal food assistance programs with F&Vs; 74 programs (six multistate, 22 state [including DC], and 46 local) administered by state and local governments and NGOs that incentivize the purchase of F&Vs for various subpopulations; and two state laws and 11 state bills to provide tax exemptions for F&Vs. To create a national F&V subsidy program, Congress could use its Commerce Clause powers or its powers to tax or spend, through direct regulation, licensing, taxation, tax incentives, and conditional funding. Legal and administrative feasibility considerations support a voluntary conditional funding program or, as a second option, a mandatory federal‐state cooperative program combining regulation and licensing.
Conclusions Multiple existing programs provide an important foundation to inform potential implementation mechanisms for a national F&V subsidy program. Results also highlight the value of state and local participation to leverage existing networks and stakeholder knowledge.
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Abstract Background Woody biomass has been considered as a promising feedstock for biofuel production via thermochemical conversion technologies such as fast pyrolysis. Extensive Life Cycle Assessment studies have been completed to evaluate the carbon intensity of woody biomass-derived biofuels via fast pyrolysis. However, most studies assumed that woody biomass such as forest residues is a carbon–neutral feedstock like annual crops, despite a distinctive timeframe it takes to grow woody biomass. Besides, few studies have investigated the impacts of forest dynamics and the temporal effects of carbon on the overall carbon intensity of woody-derived biofuels. This study addressed such gaps by developing a life-cycle carbon analysis framework integrating dynamic modeling for forest and biorefinery systems with a time-based discounted Global Warming Potential (GWP) method developed in this work. The framework analyzed dynamic carbon and energy flows of a supply chain for biofuel production from pine residues via fast pyrolysis.
Results The mean carbon intensity of biofuel given by Monte Carlo simulation across three pine growth cases ranges from 40.8–41.2 g CO2e MJ−1(static method) to 51.0–65.2 g CO2e MJ−1(using the time-based discounted GWP method) when combusting biochar for energy recovery. If biochar is utilized as soil amendment, the carbon intensity reduces to 19.0–19.7 g CO2e MJ−1(static method) and 29.6–43.4 g CO2e MJ−1in the time-based method. Forest growth and yields (controlled by forest management strategies) show more significant impacts on biofuel carbon intensity when the temporal effect of carbon is taken into consideration. Variation in forest operations and management (e.g., energy consumption of thinning and harvesting), on the other hand, has little impact on the biofuel carbon intensity.
Conclusions The carbon temporal effect, particularly the time lag of carbon sequestration during pine growth, has direct impacts on the carbon intensity of biofuels produced from pine residues from a stand-level pine growth and management point of view. The carbon implications are also significantly impacted by the assumptions of biochar end-of-life cases and forest management strategies.
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null ; null ; null ; null ; null (Ed.)The Midwest state of Iowa in the US is one of the major producers of corn, soybean, ethanol, and animal products, and has long been known as a significant contributor of nitrogen loads to the Mississippi river basin, supplying the nutrient-rich water to the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen is the principal contributor to the formation of the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico with a significant detrimental environmental impact. Agriculture, animal agriculture, and ethanol production are deeply connected to Iowa’s economy. Thus, with increasing ethanol production, high yield agriculture practices, growing animal agriculture, and the related economy, there is a need to understand the interrelationship of Iowa’s food-energy-water system to alleviate its impact on the environment and economy through improved policy and decision making. In this work, the Iowa food-energy-water (IFEW) system model is proposed that describes its interrelationship. Further, a macro-scale nitrogen export model of the agriculture and animal agriculture systems is developed. Global sensitivity analysis of the nitrogen export model reveals that the commercial nitrogen-based fertilizer application rate for corn production and corn yield are the two most influential factors affecting the surplus nitrogen in the soil.more » « less
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HomeTracker that implements the framework by collecting household FEW data and providing environmental impact feedback to households. We explore the question:How can a life cycle assessment-based software application facilitate collection and translation of household consumption data to meaningful environmental impact metrics? A case study in Lake County, Illinois is presented to illustrate use of theHomeTracker application. Output data describing environmental impacts attributable to household FEW consumption in the study area are shown in order to illustrate key features and trends observed in the case study population. The framework and its associated output data can be used to support experimental research at the household scale, allowing for examination of what users purchase and consume over an extended period of time as well as increased understanding of household behavior trends and environmental impacts, and as future work.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011368
