Carbon and Water Footprints and Energy Use of Greenhouse Tomato Production in Northern Italy. (12th August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Almeida, Joana; Achten, Wouter M.J.; Verbist, Bruno; Heuts, Reindert F.; Schrevens, Eddie; Muys, Bart
• Is Part Of: Journal of industrial ecology. Volume 18:Number 6(2014)
• Page Start: 898
• Page End: 908
• Publication Date: 2014-08-12
• Subjects: Industrial ecology -- Periodicals; Product life cycle -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Industrial management -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Écologie industrielle -- Périodiques; 658.56
• DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12169
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1088-1980

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Summary</title> <p>This study reports on the carbon, water, and energy footprints of tomatoes grown in a greenhouse in Northern Italy and two possible future variations of heating and carbon dioxide (CO₂) fertilization on the current setup. The heat supply in place, consisting of natural gas (NG) and canola oil combustion, is compared to cogeneration and incineration of municipal solid waste for heating and CO₂ from industrial exhaust for fertilization. As a benchmark, the current system is also compared to a conventional system, in which heat is delivered solely based on NG. Each kilogram (kg) of fresh tomatoes ("Cuore di Bue" variety) produced in the current greenhouse emits 2.28 kg CO₂ equivalents (eq) and uses 95.5 megajoules (MJ) eq energy and 122 liters (L) of water. Relative to the system in place, the carbon footprint (CF) is 57.5% and 18% higher with conventional NG heating and cogeneration and is 40% lower with waste valorization. Further, 33%, 55%, and 63% less energy and 9%, 96%, and 14% less water are used in the conventional, cogeneration, and waste valorization scenarios, respectively. This confirms that there are multiple strategies to reduce the impact of the tomato production under consideration.</p> </abstract>