Involving the Water–Energy–Food Nexus in Integrating Low-Income and Isolated Communities

Cansino-Loeza, Brenda; Ponce-Ortega, José María

Involving the Water–Energy–Food Nexus in Integrating Low-Income and Isolated Communities

2018

Cansino-Loeza, Brenda | Ponce-Ortega, José María

This work presents a general mathematical programming model for satisfying water, energy, and food needs in isolated and low-income communities involving different process integration approaches. The problem consists in determining the optimal and sustainable configuration to satisfy the energy, water, and food demands of the inhabitants. Also, the use of waste-to-energy technologies is proposed to handle the municipal solid waste correctly and obtain valuated products from wastes to reduce the environmental impact. A multiobjective analysis is presented considering the consumption of fresh water, the greenhouse gas emissions, and the cost of the integrated system as objective functions. As a case study, the community with the lowest index of poverty and marginalization from the State of Guerrero in Mexico is presented. The results show that it is possible to satisfy the water, energy, and food needs in isolated communities accounting for integrated processes. Besides, it is possible to obtain trade-off solutions considering contradicting objectives.

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