scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Carbon and Water FootPrints of Maize Production in Jilin Province, China

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Li Jia ◽  
Lijie Qin ◽  
Huiyun Zhang ◽  
Jianqin Wang ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Jilin Province ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Spatiotemporal Characteristics ◽  
The Relationship

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and freshwater scarcity are central environmental concerns that are closely linked to crop production. The carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF) of a crop can reflect the effects of crop production on GHG emissions and water use (WU), respectively. Studying the CFs and WFs associated with crop production will be conducive to understanding the environmental changes caused by agricultural activities, and exploring the relationship between CFs and WFs can provide a basis for strategies that reduce environmental pressures. We estimated the CF and WF of maize production in Jilin Province from 2004 to 2017 and analyzed their spatiotemporal characteristics. The results showed that the average CF and WF were 0.177 kg CO2eq/kg and 0.806 m3/kg from 2004 to 2017, respectively; 69% of the GHG emissions were due to the manufacture; transportation and application of fertilizer; and 84% of the water use was attributed to the green WF. The relationship between the CF and WF of maize production was significantly positive and indicated the possibility of simultaneous mitigation. Potential practices such as the optimization of fertilization and of agricultural machinery use and the incorporation of no-till technologies with the straw return are recommended to mitigate both GHG emissions and water use and achieve triple-win agriculture with low carbon use and water and energy savings

Temporal and spatial changes of water footprint of maize production in Jilin Province

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1067-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peili Duan ◽  
Lijie Qin
Keyword(s):  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Jilin Province ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Maize Production ◽  
Production Values ◽  
Spatial Changes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Temporal And Spatial

Quantitation of the green, blue and grey water footprints (WFs) of crop production can distinguish the water types and amount in crop production, as well as the degree of freshwater pollution. This paper calculates the WF of maize production and assesses the temporal variability and spatial distribution of WFs in different types of rainfall years over Jilin Province from 1998 to 2012. The results indicated that: (1) the annual average WF of maize production was 1,067 m3/ton, which was 53% green, 24% blue and 23% grey (maize production in Jilin Province relies primarily on green water); (2) the drier the year, the higher the WF of maize production; (3) the highest WF of maize production values among 49 counties in the province were in Antu and Tumen counties, whereas the lowest values occurred in Gongzhuling and Lishu counties, whether the year was humid, average or dry; and (4) the WF of maize production was highest in the eastern region, moderate in the western region and lowest in the middle region.

scholarly journals Does Revitalizing the Center of Mid-Sized French Cities Reduce GHG Emissions from Commuting?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1851
Author(s):  
Alexis Poulhès ◽  
Angèle Brachet
Keyword(s):  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Statistical Models ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Trip Distance ◽  
Working People ◽  
Shrinking City ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

Mid-sized cities are usually considered in the literature to be shrinking cities. Some policies promote right-sizing and others promote revitalization. The relationship between land-use planning and mobility having been established, the present research issue is focused on whether a policy of revitalizing the centers of mid-sized cities is favorable to low-carbon mobility. Our study investigates commuting trips through two indicators: commuting trip distance and car modal share. The increase in total population, the increase in the number of jobs per resident, the decrease in the unemployment rate, the increase in the rate of executives, the increase in the rate of working people in the population and the decrease in the residential vacancy rate all come from the censuses of 2006 and 2016. Statistical models based on individuals in 113 mid-sized cities, in which sociodemographic variables are introduced, show that at the level of agglomerations, no indicator has a simultaneously positive effect in the center and in the urban periphery. No indicator is entirely positive or negative on GHG emissions from commuting trips. While the increase in GHG emissions from commuting trips between 2006 and 2016 is significant in mid-sized cities (18%), a shift toward shrinking city centers is insufficient to change this trajectory.

scholarly journals An improved method for calculating regional crop water footprint based on hydrological process analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Bo Luan ◽  
Ya-Li Yin ◽  
Pu-Te Wu ◽  
Shi-Kun Sun ◽  
Yu-Bao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Process Analysis ◽  
Irrigation District ◽  
Hydrological Process ◽  
Total Water ◽  
Crop Water ◽  
Total Consumption

Abstract. Fresh water is consumed during agricultural production. With the shortage of water resources, assessing the water use efficiency is crucial to effectively managing agricultural water resources. The water footprint is a new index for water use evaluation, and it can reflect the quantity and types of water usage during crop growth. This study aims to establish a method for calculating the region-scale water footprint of crop production based on hydrological processes. This method analyzes the water-use process during the growth of crops, which includes irrigation, precipitation, underground water, evapotranspiration, and drainage, and it ensures a more credible evaluation of water use. As illustrated by the case of the Hetao irrigation district (HID), China, the water footprints of wheat, corn and sunflower were calculated using this method. The results show that canal water loss and evapotranspiration were responsible for most of the water consumption and accounted for 47.9 % and 41.8 % of the total consumption, respectively. The total water footprints of wheat, sunflower and corn were 1380–2888 m3/t, 942–1774 m3/t, and 2095–4855 m3/t, respectively, and the blue footprint accounts for more than 86 %. The spatial distribution pattern of the green, blue and total water footprint for the three crops demonstrated that higher values occurred in the eastern part of the HID, which had more precipitation and was further from the irrigating gate. This study offers a vital reference for improving the method used to calculate the crop water footprint.

scholarly journals A Decoupling Analysis of the Crop Water Footprint Versus Economic Growth in Beijing, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Huang ◽  
Mengqi Wang ◽  
Zhongren Zhou ◽  
Yajuan Yu ◽  
Yixing Bi
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Social Economy ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Crop Water ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Agricultural Water Use

Beijing, the capital of China, is experiencing a serious lack of water, which is becoming a main factor in the restriction of the development of the social economy. Due to the low economic efficiency and high consumption proportion of agricultural water use, the relationship between economic growth and agricultural water use is worth investigating. The “decoupling” index is becoming increasingly popular for identifying the degree of non-synchronous variation between resource consumption and economic growth. However, few studies address the decoupling between the crop water consumption and agricultural economic growth. This paper involves the water footprint (WF) to assess the water consumption in the crop production process. After an evaluation of the crop WF in Beijing, this paper applies the decoupling indicators to examine the occurrence of non-synchronous variation between the agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and crop WF in Beijing from 1981 to 2013. The results show that the WF of crop production in 2013 reduced by 62.1% compared to that in 1980 — in total, 1.81 × 109 m3. According to the decoupling states, the entire study period is divided into three periods. From 1981 to 2013, the decoupling states represented seventy-five percent of the years from 1981 to 1992 (Period I) with a moderate decoupling degree, more than ninety percent from 1993 to 2003 (Period II) with a very strong decoupling degree and moved from non-decoupling to strong decoupling from 2004 to 2013 (Period III). Adjusting plantation structure, technology innovation and raising awareness of water-saving, may promote the decoupling degree between WF and agricultural GDP in Beijing.

scholarly journals Carbon footprint of lentil in old Brahmaputra floodplain soil

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-167
Author(s):  
ME Haq ◽  
MA Kader ◽  
S Farhan
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Production Capacity ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Floodplain Soil ◽  
Science Field

Crop production has contributed significantly to global carbon footprint (CF). Characterizing the carbon footprint of agricultural production offers key information for achieving low carbon agriculture. Bangladesh has struggled for long and worked hard for increasing food production capacity for its large growing population. It is necessary to choose the crops and management practices which have low CF to maintain a win-win situation between food production and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, the CF of Bangladesh’s crop production has not yet been assessed. Therefore, this study was conducted to estimate the CF of lentil as one of the major legumes cultivated in Bangladesh. The crop was cultivated at the Soil Science Field Laboratory of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) Farm, Mymensingh i.e. Agro-ecological zone (AEZ 9) during November, 2013 to April, 2014 by following standard management practices. The Carbon footprint was calculated by using the collected emission factors from literature as default values for each input and operation used for the production of crops as per guideline of ISO (2006) and IPCC (2006). The GHG emissions in the crop fields are taken from the studies of Pathak and Aggarwal (2012). The yield of lentil was 0.90 t ha-1 with a CF of 406 kg CO2-equivalentst-1 of lentil. Direct and indirect GHG emissions singly contributed the half of CF accounting 52.54% of total CF. The contribution of fertilizer, irrigation, machinery and labor inputs to the overall carbon footprint were 23.16%, 15.97%, 1.26% and 7.06%, respectively. Among the fertilizers, nitrogenous fertilizer was dominant and singly contributed to 70% of fertilizer CF. However, for developing best management practices for climate change mitigation in crop production of Bangladesh, further studies of soil and regional specific CFs of lentil are needed.Progressive Agriculture 27 (2): 162-167, 2016

scholarly journals Agricultural Water Management Model Based on Grey Water Footprints under Uncertainty and its Application

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ge Song ◽  
Chao Dai ◽  
Qian Tan ◽  
Shan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Irrigation District ◽  
Agricultural Water ◽  
Grey Water ◽  
Availability Constraints ◽  
Negative Impacts

The grey water footprint theory was introduced into a fractional programming model to alleviate non-point source pollution and increase water-use efficiency through the adjustment of crop planting structure. The interval programming method was also incorporated within the developed framework to handle parametric uncertainties. The objective function of the model was the ratio of economic benefits to grey water footprints from crop production, and the constraints contained water availability constraints, food security constraints, planting area constraints, grey water footprint constraints and non-negative constraints. The model was applied to the Hetao Irrigation District of China. It was found that, based on the data in the year of 2016, the optimal planting plans generated from the developed model would reduce 34,400 m3 of grey water footprints for every 100 million Yuan gained from crops. Under the optimal planting structure, the total grey water footprints would be reduced by 21.9 million m3, the total economic benefits from crops would be increased by 1.138 billion Yuan, and the irrigation water would be saved by 44 million m3. The optimal results could provide decision-makers with agricultural water use plans with reduced negative impacts on the environment and enhanced economic benefits from crops.

Decarbonising future heating systems: trade-offs between water use and CO2 emissions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Kaandorp ◽  
Nick van de Giesen ◽  
Edo Abraham
Keyword(s):  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Virtual Water ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

<p>Sustainable energy systems can only be achieved when reducing both carbon emissions and water use for energy generation. Water-energy nexus studies are therefore crucial for supporting environmental policy oriented towards the mobilisation of resources in an optimally integrated way. Decarbonizing heating infrastructures is an important part of achieving low-carbon energy systems because they globally account for 50% of the final energy consumption and 40% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In our study, we quantitatively assess the changing water usage of the energy sector due to the integration of low carbon heating infrastructures. Multiple future energy mix scenarios were assessed  by building a multi-scale energy and water use model that quantifies the direct and virtual water footprint of space heating and hot water use in households, services and industry. In this presentation we show an analysis on the water use of heating pathways towards the year 2050 for the Netherlands and its capital, the city of Amsterdam. Additionally, we present preliminary results from our research about the trade-offs between carbon emission reductions, insulation measures and energy reliability in neighbourhoods in Amsterdam.</p>

Assessment of Water Footprint for Koshi River Basin (KRB), Nepal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raj Deva Singh ◽  
Kumar Ghimire ◽  
Ashish Pandey
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Green Water ◽  
Blue Water ◽  
Total Water ◽  
Green And Blue Water ◽  
Koshi River Basin

<p>Nepal is an agrarian country and almost one-third of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is dependent on agricultural sector. Koshi river basin is the largest basin in the country and serves large share on agricultural production. Like another country, Nepalese agriculture holds largest water use in agriculture. In this context, it is necessary to reduce water use pressure. In this study, water footprint of different crop (rice, maize, wheat, millet, sugarcane, potato and barley) have been estimated for the year 2005 -2014 to get the average water footprint of crop production during study period. CROPWAT model, developed by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO 2010b).</p><p>For the computation of the green and blue water footprints, estimated values of ET (the output of CROPWAT model) and yield (derived from statistical data) are utilised. Blue and green water footprint are computed for different districts (16 districts within KRB) / for KRB in different years (10 years from 2005 to 2014) and crops (considered 7 local crops). The water footprint of crops production for any district or basin represents the average of WF production of seven crops in the respective district or basin.</p><p>The study provides a picture of green and blue water use in crop production in the field and reduction in the water footprint of crop production by selecting suitable crops at different places in the field. The Crop, that has lower water footprint, can be intensified at that location and the crops, having higher water footprint, can be discontinued for production or measure for water saving technique needs to be implemented reducing evapotranspiration. The water footprint of agriculture crop production can be reduced by increasing the yield of the crops. Some measures like use of an improved variety of seed, fertilizer, mechanized farming and soil moisture conservation technology may also be used to increase the crop yields.</p><p>The crop harvested areas include both rainfed as well as irrigated land. Agricultural land occupies 22% of the study area, out of which 94% areas are rainfed whereas remaining 6% areas are under irrigation. The study shows 98% of total water use in crop production is due to green water use (received from rainfall) and remaining 2 % is due to blue water use received from irrigation (surface and ground water as source). Potato has 22% blue water proportion and contributes 85% share to the total blue water use in the basin. Maize and rice together hold 77% share of total water use in crops production. The average annual water footprint of crop production in KRB is 1248 cubic meter/ton having the variation of 9% during the period of 2005-2014. Sunsari, Dhankuta districts have lower water footprint of crop production. The coefficient of variation of water footprint of millet crop production is lower as compared to those of other crops considered for study whereas sugarcane has a higher variation of water footprint for its production.</p>

Green training supporting eco-innovation in three Brazilian companies: practices and levels of integration

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 387-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Saturnino Neto ◽  
Charbel José Chiappetta Jabbour ◽  
Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour
Keyword(s):  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate World ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Systematic Development ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Levels Of Integration

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show results from the relationship between green/environmental training and the development of three projects of low-carbon eco-innovations in top Brazilian companies. Design/methodology/approach – This study includes three organizational projects for low-carbon eco-innovations in products (A, B and C) with the objective of reducing their impact on GHG emissions, the so-called low-carbon products. Data were collected from several sources of evidence, including in-depth interviews, document analyses and direct observations. Findings – The authors verified that the environmental training interface for mitigating climate change is relevant for the systematic development of low-carbon products in most of the cases studied. Originality/value – Low-carbon eco-innovations are a trend in the corporate world; however, there is not enough literature and practical evidence on this subject. Thus, this paper adds new evidence to the literature.

scholarly journals Environmental sustainability of biofuels: a review

2020 ◽  
Vol 476 (2243) ◽  
pp. 20200351
Author(s):  
Harish K. Jeswani ◽  
Andrew Chilvers ◽  
Adisa Azapagic
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Environmental Consequences ◽  
Methodological Choices

Biofuels are being promoted as a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels as they could help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the related climate change impact from transport. However, there are also concerns that their wider deployment could lead to unintended environmental consequences. Numerous life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have considered the climate change and other environmental impacts of biofuels. However, their findings are often conflicting, with a wide variation in the estimates. Thus, the aim of this paper is to review and analyse the latest available evidence to provide a greater clarity and understanding of the environmental impacts of different liquid biofuels. It is evident from the review that the outcomes of LCA studies are highly situational and dependent on many factors, including the type of feedstock, production routes, data variations and methodological choices. Despite this, the existing evidence suggests that, if no land-use change (LUC) is involved, first-generation biofuels can—on average—have lower GHG emissions than fossil fuels, but the reductions for most feedstocks are insufficient to meet the GHG savings required by the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED). However, second-generation biofuels have, in general, a greater potential to reduce the emissions, provided there is no LUC. Third-generation biofuels do not represent a feasible option at present state of development as their GHG emissions are higher than those from fossil fuels. As also discussed in the paper, several studies show that reductions in GHG emissions from biofuels are achieved at the expense of other impacts, such as acidification, eutrophication, water footprint and biodiversity loss. The paper also investigates the key methodological aspects and sources of uncertainty in the LCA of biofuels and provides recommendations to address these issues.

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