Spatial analysis of energy use and GHG emissions from cereal production in India

Rao, Narasimha D.; Poblete-Cazenave, Miguel; Bhalerao, Rishi; Davis, Kyle Frankel; Parkinson, Simon

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.073

Cited by 47 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Importantly, there continue to be major PV technology innovations that could halve the CAPEX in the next 10 years 29 , with implications for the levelized cost calculations. Finally, the analysis did not consider the corresponding energy and emissions impacts from shifts in on-farm machinery and the landbased emissions from different crops 48 , or the influence of climate change and future crop prices 6 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Parkinson

Hunt

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.

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Agrivoltaics co-locate crops with solar photovoltaics (PV) to provide sustainability benefits across land, energy and water systems. Policies supporting a switch from irrigated farming to rainfed, grid-connected agrivoltaics in regions experiencing groundwater stress can mitigate both groundwater depletion and CO2 from electricity generation. Here, hydrology, crop, PV and financial models are integrated to assess the economic potential for rainfed agrivoltaics in groundwater stressed regions. The analysis reveals 11.2-37.6 PWh/yr of power generation potential, equivalent to 40-135% of the global electricity supply in 2018. Almost 90% of groundwater depletion in 2010 (~150 km 3) occurred where the levelized cost for grid-connected rainfed agrivoltaic generation are 50-100 USD/MWh. Potential revenue losses following the switch from irrigated to rainfed crops represents 0-34% of the levelized generation cost. Future cost-benefit analysis must value the avoided groundwater stress from the perspective of longterm freshwater availability.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Parkinson

Hunt

2020

Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett.

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“…Recent work also highlights that the potential improvements to the climate resilience of Indian grain supply through increased alternative grain production could also be complemented by other environmental and nutritional benefits. In particular, promoting the production of alternative grains offers the potential to reduce agricultural water demand [23], greenhouse gas emissions [39], and energy use [40] while also alleviating certain micronutrient deficiency diseases (e.g. anemia [41]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensitivity of grain yields to historical climate variability in India

Davis

Chhatre

Rao

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Fluctuations in temperature and precipitation influence crop productivity across the planet. With episodes of extreme climate becoming increasingly frequent, buffering crop production against these stresses is a critical aspect of climate adaptation. In India, where grain production and diets are closely linked, national food supply is sensitive to the effect of climate variability on monsoon grain production. Here we quantitatively examine the historical relationship between interannual variations in temperature and rainfall and rainfed yield variability for five monsoon crops -rice and four alternative grains (finger millet, maize, pearl millet, and sorghum). Compared to rice, we find that alternative grains are significantly less sensitive to climate variation and generally experience smaller declines in yield under climate extremes. However, maximizing harvested area allocations to coarse grains (i.e. holding maize production constant) reduced grain production by 12.0 Mtonnes (−17.2%) under drought conditions and 12.8 Mtonnes (−18.0%) during non-drought years (non-drought). Increasing the harvested area allocated to all alternative grains (i.e. including maize) can enhance production by +39.6% (drought) and by +37.0% (non-drought). These alternative grains therefore offer promise for reducing variations in Indian grain production in response to climate shocks, but avoiding grain production shortfalls from increased alternative grains will require yield improvements that do not compromise their superior climate resilience.

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“…Furthermore, developments are needed to improve the representation of localized water constraints, governance, and the heterogeneity of both agricultural producers and consumers in order to better account for financial and institutional constraints on adaptation [87]. Finally, most global agro-economic models do not track the energy requirements associated with agricultural production, which will be necessary for examining the land-energy nexus including the response of farmers to varying energy prices [90]. GHMs, and economic models operate.…”

Section: Agro-economic Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Solutions for the Water-Energy-Land Nexus: Are Global Models Rising to the Challenge?

Johnson

Burek

Byers

et al. 2019

Water

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Increasing human demands for water, energy, food and materials, are expected to accentuate resource supply challenges over the coming decades. Experience suggests that long-term strategies for a single sector could yield both trade-offs and synergies for other sectors. Thus, long-term transition pathways for linked resource systems should be informed using nexus approaches. Global integrated assessment models can represent the synergies and trade-offs inherent in the exploitation of water, energy and land (WEL) resources, including the impacts of international trade and climate policies. In this study, we review the current state-of-the-science in global integrated assessment modeling with an emphasis on how models have incorporated integrated WEL solutions. A large-scale assessment of the relevant literature was performed using online databases and structured keyword search queries. The results point to the following main opportunities for future research and model development: (1) improving the temporal and spatial resolution of economic models for the energy and water sectors;(2) balancing energy and land requirements across sectors; (3) integrated representation of the role of distribution infrastructure in alleviating resource challenges; (4) modeling of solution impacts on downstream environmental quality; (5) improved representation of the implementation challenges stemming from regional financial and institutional capacity; (6) enabling dynamic multi-sectoral vulnerability and adaptation needs assessment; and (7) the development of fully-coupled assessment frameworks based on consistent, scalable, and regionally-transferable platforms. Improved database management and computational power are needed to address many of these modeling challenges at a global-scale. IntroductionWater, energy and land (WEL) represent fundamental resources needed for human survival and are critical for supporting economic development and ecosystem services, such as flood control, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. Socioeconomic and climate trends are rapidly increasing global demands for WEL resources. Based on the "middle-of-the-road" Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP2) scenario in which population reaches about 9 billion in 2050, food demand is projected to increase on average 74% (59-98%) from 2005 to 2050 [1], primary energy supply will increase on average 92% (81-113%) [2], agricultural land is projected to increase on average 5% (3-7%) [3], and global water demand is projected to increase about 50% [4,5]. Meanwhile, WEL resources are regionally constrained for physical or economic reasons and several global "mega-trends", such as climate change, urbanization, and globalization, are expected to have regional impacts that may either exacerbate or alleviate resource constraints and the associated supply challenges [6]. There is an urgent need to better understand the impacts and vulnerability of human populations and ecosystems to future socioeconomic and climatic change as well as to identify sustainable strategies for m...

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Spatial analysis of energy use and GHG emissions from cereal production in India

Cited by 47 publications

References 27 publications

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Economic Potential for Rainfed Agrivoltaics in Groundwater-Stressed Regions

Sensitivity of grain yields to historical climate variability in India

Integrated Solutions for the Water-Energy-Land Nexus: Are Global Models Rising to the Challenge?

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