FEW: Food-Energy-Water Nexus Workshop to Develop System Approaches and Sustainability Metrics for Evaluation

American Institute Of Chemical Engineers, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

1541883 (Schuster). This workshop will develop the systems framework and associated metrics for evaluation of the nexus of food, energy and water (FEW) along key processing areas of the food supply chain. The workship is being jointly funded by the CBET Division in the ENG Directorate and the CHE Division in the MPS Directorate at NSF. In order for the FEW nexus to be understood along with the associated tradeoffs among food, energy, and water, the workshop will bring together experts in systems analysis and metrics with the aim of developing a roadmap of needed research, education, and application of sustainability metrics and systems thinking for the assessment of the food-energy-water nexus. The workshop will help to define the roles of professional societies and how they can foster collaborations between government, industry, and academia. The workshop will address the difficult research aspects of complex systems analysis coupled with sustainability metrics frameworks. Assessment of current approaches to measure tradeoffs in complex systems will be summarized along with identification of the additional research needs when studying the nexus of food, energy and water along the various key processing areas along the food supply chain. How to qualify and quantify the complex impacts and interplay of energy and water on the food supply chain will have research as well as educational ramifications that should be addressed by a robust and coordinated research program. This work will begin to set the stage for continued needed work hoping to identify a common framework for analysis of such systems. Lifecycle, Sustainability ROI, P-Graphs, Eco-efficiency, and the more recently used FAO approach for multiple metric assessments will be addressed and commonalities and differences and needed enhancements for application to the nexus analysis will be identified. The outcome of the workshop will be both the evaluation and summary of various ways to measure such systems. Lifecycle, Sustainability ROI, P-Graphs, Eco-efficiency, and the more recently used FAO approach for multiple metric assessments will be addressed and commonalities and differences and needed enhancements for application to the nexus analysis will be identified. A focus will be on the food supply chains dealing with food production: from agriculture, to processing, to transportation, and to end use. Special attention will also be paid to the issue of food waste and its associated impacts on energy and water. Engineers from the private sector from chemical, civil, electrical, environmental and mechanical perspectives along with sociologists studying food systems will be engaged and a virtual network will be sustained by AIChE to enable continued collaboration.