sustainability-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Circular Economy Approaches and Emerging Business Models Addressing the Food-Energy-Water Nexus

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2019) | Viewed by 2551

Special Issue Editors

Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Interests: agricultural and food policy; rural policy; food losses and waste; food chain sustainability; bioenergy economics and policy; behavioral economics; life cycle thinking
University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: agriculture; food systems; life cycle assessment; nutrient cycling; sustainable engineering
School of Public Affairs, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
Interests: local government finance; economic policy; rural and regional economic development
Nordregio, SE-111 86 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: rural development and policy; environmental and resource management; agricultural management; bioeconomy and innovation
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
Interests: sustainability of bioenergy from agro-food byproducts and waste; environmental, economic, and social life cycle assessment (LCSA) of agro-food products and bioenergy; renewable energy and rural development: impacts and synergies
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Università di Bologna, Via Zamboni, 33-40126 Bologna, Italy
Interests: the agri-food system and its inefficiencies; management and sustainable valorization of food waste
Natural Resources Institute, Latokartanonkaari 9, FI-00790 HELSINKI, Finland
Interests: agroecology; ecology of food systems; integrated and sustainable food production; environmental assessment; life cycle assessment (LCA); eco-design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

An intertwined and complex web of relations, generally defined as a nexus, connects food, energy, and water (FEW), and the related production and management systems. The predicted growth of the global population will pose a critical challenge for the sustainable and equitable supply of these resources. From this perspective, efforts and policies aiming at increased sustainability might result in unintended consequences and tradeoffs. Therefore, the transition towards holistic research and business approaches is needed both to address the multiple interactions and dimensions of FEW and to evaluate potential sustainable solutions. In this framework, current linear economic approaches prove inappropriate to foster more sustainable food and energy production and resource and waste management. Thus, the circular economy is a welcomed paradigm shift from this conventional approach. As defined by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the circular economy is inherently restorative, relies on renewable sources of energy, minimizes the recourse to toxic chemicals, and aims at designing out waste. When focusing on the FEW, circularity will be mainly mean diversion of food waste and organics from landfills, the recovery of nutrients, materials and energy, and the treatment and recycling of wastewater. In addition to technological innovations, the transition towards circularity will require appropriate business models, able to create economic value and jobs and consideration of the other social and cultural factors that lead to food waste.

Therefore, this Special Issue seeks contributions on circular economy approaches and emerging biobased business models in the FEW nexus. In particular, we encourage submissions of research contributions, case studies, and review articles related but not limited to:

  • System-level approaches to FEW nexus
  • Sustainability assessment of FEW nexus systems
  • Emerging biobased business models and market dynamics in the circular economy
  • Policy analysis related to FEW and the circular economy
  • Life-cycle assessments of FEW systems
  • Comparative analyses of FEW systems

Prof. Dr. Matteo Vittuari
Dr. Christine Costello
Prof. Dr. Thomas Johnson
Dr. Karen Refsgaard
Dr. Fabio De Menna
Prof. Dr. Sirpa Kurppa
Dr. Luca Falasconi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • food, energy and water nexus
  • circular economy approaches
  • biobased business models

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

19 pages, 248 KiB  
Article
Public Preferences for Food–Energy–Water Tradeoffs in the Western U.S.
by Brent S. Steel, Erika Allen Wolters and Rebecca L. Warner
Sustainability 2019, 11(19), 5200; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195200 - 23 Sep 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2050
Abstract
The food–energy–water (FEW) nexus is, by definition, a “wicked problem” in that potential solutions in one sector may inadvertently create perverse effects in another. For example, rapid population growth in conjunction with increasing urbanization will add additional stress to current pressures on the [...] Read more.
The food–energy–water (FEW) nexus is, by definition, a “wicked problem” in that potential solutions in one sector may inadvertently create perverse effects in another. For example, rapid population growth in conjunction with increasing urbanization will add additional stress to current pressures on the world’s FEW resources. Water scarcity will increase challenges in providing plentiful foods, as well as clean, potable water. Water is also critical to energy production—and conversely—energy is needed to deliver clean, safe water. Extant and projected demand for FEW creates an intertwined problem of supply and demand and new policy considerations for managing the nexus. This study examines the FEW policy tradeoff preferences of the public in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington states, using survey data collected in 2018. More specifically, this study examines the impact of demographic control variables, FEW knowledge, and environmental values and beliefs on hypothetical tradeoffs between FEW policy preferences. Findings suggest that those respondents that believe in human-caused climate change and with higher new ecological paradigm (NEP) scores were more supportive of water quality issues versus hydroelectric energy production, rural solar energy development versus limiting rural solar development for food production, and water quality over food production for a growing population. Full article
Back to TopTop