Stepping‐up innovations in the water–energy–food nexus: A case study of anaerobic digestion in the UK

Abstract

Grand societal challenges such as climate change, poverty and biodiversity loss call for rapid and radical changes to systems of production and consumption. Consequently, there is a growing interest in the dynamics of innovation, both social and technical, to accelerate innovation diffusion so as to increase the possibility of a step‐change or large‐scale transition. Research on the water–energy–food nexus adds an additional dimension to existing discussions, calling for transitions that recognise the sustainability challenges facing three major resource domains, and the synergies and tensions involved in their management. This paper examines anaerobic digestion (AD) – an example of innovation with potential benefits across the water–energy–food nexus – to understand the conditions that influence the rate of AD implementation and the achievement of its potential multi‐sectoral benefits across the water–energy–food nexus. Interview data regarding 15 AD plants are examined alongside complementary data from interviews and workshops using the Technological Innovation Systems framework. This framework provides an analytical structure through which the processes that enable and constrain the implementation of AD in the UK can be examined, enabling the identification of potential mechanisms to support AD's wider and more effective deployment. The findings call for recognition of the unintended consequences of sectoral support mechanisms for technological adaptation, and consequent performance of AD in other resource domains and call for greater integration between policy mechanisms to enable AD to perform across the nexus. They also highlight a need to assimilate knowledge from multiple sources (including site‐specific understanding gained from experimentation) to enhance the base on which policy and decision‐making occurs. These findings contribute to existing literature on sustainable transitions by examining the complexities of multi‐sectoral resource management in the context of nexus research.

Anaerobic Digestion of food waste: Eliciting sustainable water-energy-food nexus practices with Agent Based Modelling and visual analytics

“…In England AD plant development is less tightly regulated, and as a consequence there is much more competition for feedstock which has driven down gate fees. AD operators also face competition from other waste disposal options, such as 'Energy from Waste' which generate energy from combustion but offers less nexus benefits (Hoolohan et al, 2018a).…”

“…As AD has evolved to favour maximum energy generation, the wider benefits that AD may have in terms of social and environmental gains may not be realised (Hoolohan et al, 2018a).…”

“…AD therefore can be considered part of the suite of solutions deriving value from food waste. In addition to AD being a WEF innovation, it was selected as a case study as data is available, albeit fragmented, that can be used to inform aspects of the modelling based on current waste production patterns in the UK, which would enable the wider impact of AD diffusion to be assessed (Hoolohan et al, 2018a).…”

Geography and the water–energy–food nexus: Introduction

“…These included global, regional and conceptual contributions: land use transformation to meet global food demand, and waste and dietary management to minimise the carbon emission consequences (Bajželj et al, 2014); the integrated planning of water and energy in Brazil in order to meet sustainability goals (Carvalho et al, 2018); learning from disruption to manage resilience of the WEF nexus (Larcom and van Gevelt, 2017); and systems deliberation as a tool for integrating the WEF nexus with the Sustainable Development Goals (Monkelbaan, 2018). The four here cover theorising a relational framework to support nexus decision-making (Stein & Jaspersen, 2019), case study work on how to upscale innovation across the nexus (Hoolohan et al, 2019), an evaluation of the data gaps and challenges in supporting a WEF nexus framework (McGrane et al, 2019), and considering the WEF nexus at a household level and how policy operates at that scale (Foden et al, 2019). Common to all is the use of a mixed methods approachagain typifying the nature of research in this space, where multiple insights require multiple approaches to obtain data and develop understanding.…”

“…Complementing this paper, Hoolohan et al () focus on anaerobic digestion (AD) to better understand processes that influence the rate of implementation and efficacy of WEF nexus technologies. Such a focus on acceleration is seen to be critical given the scale and urgency of mitigating and adapting to climate change.…”