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Spillover effects are considered important in evaluating the impacts of food, energy and water (FEW) conservation behaviors for limiting global greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Failure to account for all possible spillovers, or indirect and unintended results of an intervention, not only obscures valuable information pertaining to the dynamic interactions across domains but also results in biased estimates. In this study, we first systematically reviewed articles that investigate the idea that the performance of one pro-environmental behavior influences the conduct of subsequent behaviors(s) from the FEW domains. From our review of 48 studies in the last decade, we note that a big part of the discussion on spillover concerns the nature and direction of causal relationships between individual FEW conservation behaviors. We identify a critical gap in the literature regarding the distinction between spillover effects caused by the interventions as distinct from those caused by the primary behaviors. Next, we conducted a quantitative meta-analysis of the reviewed empirical studies to find a modest but overall positive spillover effect. Finally, we reviewed the theoretical and methodological plurality in the FEW spillover literature using a systemic thinking lens to summarize what is already known and identify future challenges and research opportunities with significant policy implications.

 

The Haber–Bosch synthesis of ammonia is an energy-intensive process that uses coal or natural gas as a fuel and feed. Direct electrochemical nitrogen reduction represents a potential alternative to the Haber–Bosch process that can be less polluting. This alternative route to ammonia from dinitrogen is not likely to require the same large capital investments as does the Haber–Bosch process, thus suggesting a distributive production structure of ammonia relative to the existing ammonia industry. In addition, the flexibility borne from the use of electrochemistry yields technologies that are better fit for the use of renewable energy sources that supply intermittent electricity. We show that under certain scenarios, at levels of efficiency (as determined by the required overpotential and the Faradaic efficiency) that might reasonably be achieved, direct electrochemical nitrogen reduction would be a sustainable and economically viable alternative to the Haber–Bosch process.