The nexus energy–water–food of the tomato greenhouse production in the Almeria region (Spain) has been studied following a Process Systems Analysis Method connecting the ecosystem services to the market demands with a holistic view based on Life Cycle Assessment. The management of the agri-food subsystem, the industrial subsystem and the urban subsystem plays an important role in the nexus of the E–W–F system, where transport and information technologies connect the three subsystems to the global markets. The local case study of the tomato production in Almeria (Spain) has been developed as an example of the food production under cropland restrictions, semiarid land. After study of the economic and social sustainability in time, the evolution of the ecosystem services supply is the main restriction of the system, where after the land use change in the region, water and energy supply play the mean role with a trade-off between the water quality degradation and the economic cost of the energy for water desalination. Water footprint, Carbon footprint and Chemicals footprint are useful indicators to the environmental sustainability assessment of local alternatives in the E–W–F system under study. As it is shown in the conclusions, the holistic view based on the process analysis method and the life cycle assessment methodology and indicators is an useful tool for decision support.

The United Nations has adopted 17 sustainable development goals for 2030 with environmental sustainability being one of the main pillars. A key point to address this pillar is the proper management of waste generation. Within the broad spectrum of waste types, food loss and waste is produced worldwide in large quantities. In this framework, the development of composite indexes is recommended to measure the level of compliance of any context with Sustainable Development Goals. This work presents a novel composite index for food loss and waste generation and management systems, the so-called sustainable development goals-food (SDG-Food) index, aiming to determine the level of compliance of any concrete national, regional, or local context regarding five different sustainable development goals with a water-climate-food nexus thinking. The pilot case study of Spain is presented by analyzing the environmental performance between 2015 and 2040 in a context of (i) compliance and (ii) non-compliance with the Paris Agreement targets. Additionally, four different diets are assessed. Results suggested a numerical index score of 13.79, highlighting the categories of eggs, cereals, meat, and vegetables, and the stages of agricultural production and consumption, as the furthers ones for compliance with the five SDG assessed. Moreover, the scenario of compliance with the Paris agreement targets presented better values for all stages, and a vegan diet was highlighted as the one with the best index score. | This research was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Competitiveness, grant number CERES-PROCON Project CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R (AEI/FEDER, UE) and KAIROS-BIOCIR Project PID2019-104925RB (AEO/FEDER, UE).

The big challenge of the next decades is meeting the global nutritional demand, while reducing the pressure on food resources and the GHG emissions. In this regard, the overall goal consists of redesigning the food systems and promoting sustainable dietary patterns is a crucial aspect. This article focuses on reviewing the state-of-the-art of the combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach in assessing the effects of diet transitions. Diet LCAs differ in methodology, design, and assessed environmental impacts. The WEF nexus, which aims at finding synergies and trade-offs between the water, energy, and food resources systems, has been applied to different contexts and levels. However, a limited number of nexus methods have been developed at the food and diet levels, and no commonly recognizable methodology for the nexus assessment has been achieved. An integrated LCA and WEF Nexus approach can be a decisive tool to improve the understanding of the interconnections in the nexus, as it enables the consideration of entire supply chains. | This study is part of the Ceres-Procon Project: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176-C2-2-R) (AEI/FEDER, UE), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, which aims to determine strategies to improve the sustainability of current food production and consumption.

Resumen: El presente proyecto nace de la necesidad de conocer el funcionamiento de un calentador de agua, así como determinar y describir sus partes integrantes con el propósito de adquirir los conocimientos necesarios para diseñar y proyectar dicho equipo para la producción de electricidad en una Central Térmica. El trabajo fin de grado consta de ocho capítulos y tres anexos (A, B y C) , a continuación resumen los más representativos : 1. Introducción: En este apartado se describe el equipo a presión dentro del ciclo termodinámico y se explica la importancia dentro de este. 2. Objetivos y Alcance: Marca el objetivo fundamental que consiste en la descripción del diseño en base a la normativa vigente. 3. Exposición General de un Feed-Water Heater: En este punto se explica detalladamente cada una de las partes integrantes del equipo a diseñar, a demás de los tipos de calentadores existentes. 4. Descripción del diseño del calentador: Una vez se explican cada una de las partes integrantes del equipo a diseñar, este capitulo se encarga de los siguientes objetivos: a. Situar el equipo dentro del ciclo termodinámico de la central. b. Definir las condiciones de contorno del calentador (temperaturas, presiones, flujos masicos…etc) , es decir , se obtienen todos los parámetros necesarios de partida para poder diseñar el calentador. c. Descripción del diseño térmico que utilizan los programas actuales para diseñar este tipo de equipos en base a la normativa vigente incluyendo formulas, tablas y conocimientos básicos en base a la experiencia para un correcto diseño térmico. d. Descripción del diseño mecánico que utilizan los programas actuales para diseñar este tipo de equipos en base a la normativa vigente incluyendo formulas, tablas y conocimientos básicos en base a la experiencia para una fabricación optima en consonancia con el previo diseño térmico. 5. Resultados del diseño y Anexos B y C: Tras recibir los datos necesarios para diseñar el equipo por parte de la central térmica de costanera mostrados en el anexo B (tablas de datos de la central) , el programa de cálculo térmico realiza el cálculo optimo del equipo dando una tabla de datos como resultado conocida como data sheet, es donde se muestran los parámetros térmicos fundamentales como área de intercambio de cada zona , espesores , materiales…etc. El anexo B también muestra la tabla de datos del diseño mecánico que recoge los espesores mas significativos del equipo según los requerimientos de diseño. El anexo C muestra dos planos característicos del equipo, siendo estos resultados del diseño imprescindibles para la fabricación del mismo. 6. Análisis Económico: Determina los costes y amortización del calentador por parte de la central térmica. 7. Conclusiones: En estas se defiende: a. Materiales Elegidos. b. Coste del calentador de agua de alimentación. | Abstract: This project is born from the need to know the operation of a water heater, as well as determine and describe its integral parts in order to acquire the necessary knowledge to design and project such equipment for the production of electricity in a Thermal Power Plant. The final degree project consists of eight chapters and three annexes (A, B and C), below summarize the most representative: 1. Introduction: This section describes the pressure equipment within the thermodynamic cycle and explains the importance within it: 2. Objectives and Scope: Mark the fundamental objective that consists in the description of the design based on current regulations. 3. General Exhibition of a Feed-Water Heater: This section explains in detail each of the integral parts of the equipment to be designed, in addition to the types of existing heaters. 4. Description of the heater design: Once each of the components of the equipment to be designed is explained, this chapter takes care of the following objectives: a. Place the equipment within the thermodynamic cycle of the plant. b. Define boiler boundary conditions (temperatures, pressures, mass flows ... etc), that is, all necessary starting parameters are obtained to be able to design the boiler. c. Description of the thermal design used by current programs to design this type of equipment based on current regulations including formulas, tables and basic knowledge based on experience for proper thermal design. d. Description of the mechanical design used by current programs to design this type of equipment based on current regulations including formulas, tables and basic knowledge based on experience for optimal manufacturing in line with the previous thermal design. 5. Design results and Annexes B and C: After receiving the necessary data to design the equipment by the waterfront thermal power plant shown in Annex B (data tables of the plant), the thermal calculation program performs the calculation optimum of the equipment giving a data table as a result known as data sheet, is where the fundamental thermal parameters are shown as the exchange area of each zone, thicknesses, materials ... etc. Annex B also shows the mechanical design data table that includes the most significant thicknesses of the equipment according to the design requirements. Annex C shows two characteristic drawings of the equipment, these design results being essential for its manufacture. 6. Economic Analysis: Determines the costs and amortization of the heater by the thermal power plant. 7. Conclusions: These are defended: a. Chosen Materials. b. Feed water heater cost. | Grado en Ingeniería de los Recursos Energéticos

The availability of freshwater is one of the biggest limitations and challenges of food production, as freshwater is an increasingly scarce and overexploited resource in many parts of the world. Therefore, the concept of water footprint (WF) has gained increasing interest, in the same way that the generation of food loss and waste (FLW) in food production and consumption has become a social and political concern. Along this line, the number of studies on the WF of the food production sector is currently increasing all over the world, analyzing water scarcity and water degradation as a single WF indicator or as a so-called WF profile. In Spain, there is no study assessing the influence of FLW generation along the whole food supply chain nor is there a study assessing the different FLW management options regarding the food supply chain’s WF. This study aimed to assess the spatially differentiated WF profile for 17 Spanish regions over time, analyzing the potential linkages of FLW management and water scarcity and water degradation. The assessment considered compliance and non-compliance with the Paris Agreement targets and was based on the life cycle assessment approach. Results are highlighted in a compliance framework; the scenarios found that anaerobic digestion and aerobic composting (to a lesser extent) had the lowest burdens, while scenarios with thermal treatment had the highest impact. Additionally, the regions in the north of Spain and the islands were less influenced by the type of FLW management and by compliance with the Paris Agreement targets. | This study has been conducted thanks to the financial support of the Project Ceres-Procom: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R) (AEI/FEDER, UE), financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain. Daniel Hoehn thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2017-080296. Thanks are also due to the FCT/MCTES for the contracts granted to Paula Quinteiro (CEECIND/00143/2017) and for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020+UIDP/50017/2020) by means of national funds.

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus approach should be promoted as a tool for sustainable management of resources through the interconnection of these three fundamental pillars. Particularly, food security must ensure healthy and balanced diets for everyone, but selecting individual indicators to assess all slants covered by this element is not an easy task. Hence, the objective of this paper is two-fold, to review nutrient profiling (NP) models that allow to categorize foods and evaluate diets based on their nutritional quality, and to choose the most appropriate model to be used within a WEF nexus index. To address this issue, a total of 159 documents were assessed, appraising the geographic distribution, and time evolution of the publications, as well as the characteristics and potential applications of the NP systems. The review concludes that the NRF9.3. model is the most liable option to be used in a WEF nexus index, presenting the best characteristics by means of the definition of scores and thresholds, and the use of an 'across-the-board' criteria and a reference quantity of 100 kcal, alongside offering higher ability to assess diets and foods than the other competitive model (HEI) through the evaluation of nutrients to encourage instead of foods. A secondary outcome of the review is the identification of the NP models as a useful tool to enable institutions with information to establish policies in the field of public health and facilitating the decision-making process according to the current healthy claims | The authors are grateful for the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the KAIROS-BIOCIR project (PID2019-104925RB) (AEO/FEDER, UE) and of the Interreg Atlantic Area through the NEPTUNUS project (EAPA_576/2018). Daniel Hoehn thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spanish Government for their financial support via the research fellowship BES-2017-080296. Jorge Cristóbal acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the “Beatriz Galindo” grant BEAGAL18/00035.

By 2050, food production's environmental impacts are projected to double without intervention. Crucial changes in dietary habits are needed, and seafood can be pivotal. The focus in calculating burdens using life cycle assessment (LCA) indicators has shifted towards exploring interconnections within the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus. Addressing this evolution, this manuscript has applied an innovative methodology to calculate a WEF nexus index (WEFni). This index seamlessly integrates both environmental and nutritional profiles across diverse case studies involving fisheries, aquaculture, and processing production systems in the European Atlantic area. The results showed that when it comes to fishing, purse seine fishing obtained the highest score (99%). For the aquaculture activities, seafood (>73%) obtained better results than fish farming. About processing treatments, freezing (>79%) has lower environmental loads than canning. In addition, a sensitivity analysis was carried out according to a caloric- and edible-based functional unit as well as the modification of the weighting factors assigned to each footprint, in which important variations were reported in the WEFni of most case studies. Consequently, although the methodological guidelines supporting the WEFni have great potential to serve as an ecolabeling tool, certain aspects need to be re-evaluated. On the other hand, it could be interesting to include the potential biodiversity loss, as well as other socioeconomic indicators, with the purpose of considering a more sustainability criteria. Finally, the contribution of this paper to the food industry literature is of paramount importance, as it represents a first step towards holistic assessments and easy-to-understand ecolabelling processes that can promote sustainable production and consumption. | This research was supported by the EAPA_576/2018 NEPTUNUS project, supported by Interreg Atlantic area. Some authors belong to CRETUS and the Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC) ED431C 2021/37, co-founded by Xunta de Galicia and FEDER (EU). E.E.B. is funded by Xunta de Galicia PhD Grant (ED481A-2021/164). A.C.D. and P.Q. acknowledge FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020 + UIDP/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds, and to the research contracts CEECIND/02174/2017 and CEECIND/00143/2017, respectively.

Indicators from life cycle assessment methodologies (i.e., footprints) have emerged as useful tools for identifying and communicating the environmental impacts of a system thanks to they are accessible and intuitive and easy to understand to non-expert public. However, the focus on a single environmental problem is one of their main drawbacks. From this idea arises the concept of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, with the aim of raising awareness of the connections between the universal rights to water supply, energy security and food provision. Regarding the latter, the fisheries sector stands out as a fundamental pillar in the fight against malnutrition. In this sense, the European project “blue growth” aims to ensure that the development of the marine sector is not linked to the degradation of its ecosystems. However, although producers and authorities are willing to communicate the sustainability of products, there is still no standard methodology for reporting it. With the purpose of remedying this current situation, this paper aims to provide technical guidance to calculate a single WEF nexus index for ecolabelling seafood products in the European framework (Atlantic area). Therefore, through this, it is expected to create a useful communication channel between producers and consumers through an easy-to-read ecolabel. Nonetheless, certain aspects, such as the footprints selected or the calculation procedures selected have to be reconsidered to refine the methodology proposed, apart from broadening the approach to other food sectors with the aim that the proposed eco-certification can be present in major supply and retail chains. | This research was supported by the EAPA_576/2018 NEPTUNUS project, supported by Interreg Atlantic area. Some authors belong to CRETUS and the Galician Competitive Research Group (GRC) ED431C 2021/37, co founded by Xunta de Galicia and FEDER (EU). E.E.B. is funded by Xunta de Galicia PhD Grant (ED481A-2021/164). A.C.D. and P.Q. acknowledge FCT/MCTES for the financial support to CESAM (UIDB/50017/2020 + UIDP/50017/2020 + LA/P/0094/2020), through national funds, and to the research contracts CEECIND/02174/2017 and CEECIND/00143/2017, respectively.

The energy-water nexus is a concept widely established but rarely applied to product and, in particular, to food and beverage products, which have a great influence on greenhouse gases emissions. The proposed method considers the main nexus aspects in addition to other relevant aspects such as climate change, which is deeply linked with energy and water systems, and assessing process as well as product. In this framework, this study develops an integrated index (IWECN) that combines life cycle assessment (LCA) and linear programming (LP) to assess energetic, water and climate systems, enabling the identification of those products with minors energetic and water intensity and climate change effects and helping to the decision-making process and to the development of eco-innovation measures. In this case, the product assessed was one bottle (70 cl) of gin and two main hotspots were identified: the production of the glass bottle and the energy requirements of the distillation stage. Based on that, several eco-innovation strategies were proposed: the use of photovoltaic solar energy as energy source and the substitution of the glass bottle by a plastic one and by a tetra brick. The nexus results indicated that the use of solar photovoltaic energy and plastic as bottle material was the best alternative decreasing 58% the IWECN value of the production of one bottle of gin. The sensitivity analysis presented a strong preference for photovoltaic solar energy in comparison with electric power and for the reduction of the glass bottle weight or its substitution by a plastic bottle. The use of the IWECN index is extendable to any product with the aim of facilitating the decision-making process in the development of more sustainable products to introduce them in new green markets. | Rubén Leivas thanks the Industrial Doctorates Program of the Cantabria University, the Santander Bank and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport by means of the Campus of International Excellence Program for the financial support. Jara Laso thanks the University of Cantabria for its financial support via the postdoctoral grant “Augusto Gonzalez Linares”. The authors are grateful for the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Ceres-Procom: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R).

The water-energy-food (WEF) nexus has become a key concept to promote the cross-sectoral coordination toward sustainable development. In particular, understanding the interdependences of these pillars, as well as addressing a life cycle perspective, is essential when evaluating food production systems. This study explores the environmental impacts and nutritional quality of potato chips, addressing life cycle thinking and a WEF nexus approach. For this purpose, the combined application of life cycle assessment (LCA) and the Nutrient-Rich Food 9.3 (NRF9.3) index was considered to identify the main environmental hotspots and advanced opportunities. The results indicated a major contribution of the cultivation stage on water use, whereas the processing accounted for most of the impacts in energy-related indicators and eutrophication potentials. Improvement opportunities reside in the joint application of drip irrigation, allowing to achieve important water savings, as well as the use of natural gas or pellets instead of diesel, which constitute cleaner energy sources. On the other hand, a poor nutritional density of potato chips became evident from the quantification of the NRF9.3, which can be significantly improved if potatoes undergo a roasted process instead of frying. | This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the KAIROS-BIOCIR project (PID2019-104925RB) (AEO/FEDER, UE).