| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
David, Luiz H.
;
Pinho, Sara M.
;
Agostinho, Feni
;
Costa, Jesaias, I
;
Portella, Maria Celia
;
Keesman, Karel J.
;
Garcia, Fabiana
Total Authors: 7
|
| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION; v. 331, p. 11-pg., 2022-01-10. |
| Abstract | |
Aquaponics is a food production system that aims higher sustainability by integrating advantages gained from aquaculture and hydroponic production. Aquaponics aims to mimic the biological process that happens in the natural environment in a controlled production system. As it can be applied to small scales, aquaponics is considered an important alternative for urban regions, which have low availability of agricultural land and water resources. Furthermore, the advantage is that it is located close to final consumers. Aquaponics has been labeled as an environmentally friendly food production system, but its demand for energy and materials cast doubt on its sustainability. A systemic understanding of aquaponics production systems is needed to determine the magnitude and balance between its potentialities and constraints, in which emergy synthesis appears as a powerful tool for this purpose. This study applies emergy synthesis to assess the sustainability of two different (scale and marketable products) urban aquaponics farms in Brazil, but differently from other emergy studies, ecosystem services and disservices are included in the analysis as an attempt to represent the system performance holistically. Results show that the type of materials used in aquaponics infrastructures has the highest influence on total emergy demand. Surprisingly, electricity and fish feed showed a low influence on the total emergy, reinforcing the idea that aquaponics systems have a more efficiency feeding management than traditional aquaculture systems. Besides producing vegetables and fish, the inclusion of ecosystem services highlights the importance of aquaponics for educational and tourism purposes. Finally, the obtained indicators from modeling scenarios revealed that replacing the water source and some materials deserves priority attention to increase the sustainability of urban aquaponics farms. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 18/20463-9 - Tilapia production systems with certification potential |
| Grantee: | Luiz Henrique Castro David |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| FAPESP's process: | 19/21703-6 - Use of mathematical models and emergy synthesis for the identification and valuation of ecosystem services and externalities in aquaculture production |
| Grantee: | Luiz Henrique Castro David |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate |
| FAPESP's process: | 18/13235-0 - Technological innovations for the use of biofloc systems in decoupled aquaponics |
| Grantee: | Sara M Pinho |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate |
| FAPESP's process: | 17/50431-9 - Smart integrated multitrophic city food production systems: a water and energy saving approach for global urbanisation (CityFood) |
| Grantee: | Maria Célia Portella |
| Support Opportunities: | Regular Research Grants |
| FAPESP's process: | 19/21315-6 - Modeling of multi-loop FLOCponic systems: Water, energy, and nutrient balances |
| Grantee: | Sara M Pinho |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate |
| FAPESP's process: | 18/23605-9 - Smart integrated multitrophic city food production systems: a water and energy saving approach for global urbanization |
| Grantee: | Jesaias Ismael da Costa |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |