Energy and economic efficiency of climate-smart agriculture practices in a rice–wheat cropping system of India

Abstract

Intensive tillage operations, indiscriminate use of irrigation water, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides and crop biomass burning have made the conventional rice–wheat (RW) system highly energy-intensive and inefficient. In the recent past, portfolios of climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAP) have been promoted as a potential alternative to improve the energy efficiency in conventional RW system. Therefore, to evaluate the energy input–output relation, energy flow and economic efficiency in various combinations of crop management options, a 3-year (2014–2017) on-farm study was conducted at Karnal, India. Various portfolio of management practices; Sc1-Business as usual (BAU) or Conventional tillage (CT) without residue, Sc2-CT with residue, Sc3-Reduce tillage (RT) with residue + recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF), Sc4-RT/Zero tillage (ZT) with residue + RDF, Sc5-ZT with residue + RDF + GreenSeeker + Tensiometer, Sc6-Sc5 + Nutrient expert were investigated. Present study results revealed that net energy, energy use efficiency and energy productivity were 11–18, 31–51 and 29–53% higher under CSAP (mean of Sc4, Sc5 and Sc6) in RW system than Sc1, respectively. However, renewable and non-renewable energy inputs were 14 and 33% higher in Sc1 compared to CSAP (4028 and 49,547 MJ ha−1), respectively, it showed that BAU practices mostly dependents on non-renewable energy sources whereas CSAP dependents on renewable energy sources. Similarly, the adoption of CSAP improved the biomass yield, net farm income and economic efficiency by 6–9, 18–23 and 42–58%, respectively compared to Sc1. Overall, the adoption of CSAP could be a viable alternative for improving energy use efficiency, farm profitability and eco-efficiency in the RW system.

Fight against climate change and sustainable development based on ecological economy and management in the AI era

“…The article contributes to the literature by strengthening the systemic links between the concept of ecological economics and business management and the concept of the digital economy based on smart technologies in the AI era, as well as by filling the gap in knowledge at the intersection of these concepts. In contrast to the position of such scientists as Fu et al (2022), Garris and Domingo (2022), Kakraliya et al (2022), Kong (2021), Matsunaga et al (2022), Sun et al (2021), Xiong et al (2022), the authors proved that the development of the digital economy and business based on smart technologies in the AI era can have a positive impact on the ecological economy and management, provided that all economic entities-the state, society and business-show high corporate environmental responsibility.…”

“…The available literature indicates the high risks of negative consequences of the development of the digital economy and business based on smart technologies in the era of AI for the environment. Among these negative consequences are increased energy intensity of automated business (Fu et al, 2022;Kakraliya et al, 2022;Matsunaga et al, 2022), increased environmental costs of high-tech economic growth (Kong, 2021;Sun et al, 2021), as well as the limitation of the use of "clean energy" (Garriz and Domingo, 2022;Xiong et al, 2022).…”

An innovative transactive energy architecture for community microgrids in modern multi-carrier energy networks: a Chicago case study

“…In recent years, energy networks have been faced with substantial growth in energy consumption in their diverse carriers as well as the proliferation of renewable energy sources (RESs) especially in wind and solar types 33 . As the penetration of these intermittent energy sources is raised to 100%, the challenges associated with their unpredictable attributes come to view more than ever before 34 .…”

Assessing the Cost-Effectiveness of Solar-Powered Irrigation in the Middle East

“…Today the agriculture practices suffered from fossil fuel consumption and water pumping was the highest fuel consumption among the other practices [38]. The projected system in the simulation comprises a main lifting centrifugal pump that transports water from a deep well roughly 10 meters deep to the surface for irrigation purposes.…”