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Optimizing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus System Considering the Human Development Index

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Abstract

Water, energy, and food are essential resources for meeting basic human needs and for socio-economic development. The water-energy-food nexus studies the interconnections between energy, water, and food resources to improve their security and achieve sustainable development. In recent years, optimization models have been developed around systems that evaluate the water-energy-food nexus; however, social aspects have not been addressed in system planning. This study presents an optimization model involving the Human Development Index as a basis for designing water-energy-food systems that maximize the security of water, energy, and food in the regions with the lowest human development. Two cases are addressed, one where the Human Development Index was used as a parameter calculated by the United Nations Program in function of the Gross Domestic Product, education, and life expectancy, and another case where the Human Development Index is a function of the number of people that have access to electricity and is integrated to the Sustainable Development Index proposed in this works that also considers the water, energy, and food security. The state of Sonora in Mexico was considered a case study due to its unequal distribution of resources. The results indicate that the water-energy-food nexus security index can be increased up to 39% in the water sector, 8% in the energy sector, and 26% in the food sector. Increasing the water-energy-food nexus security should improve human development by implementing the resulting integrated system. The proposed model can guide decision-making to maximize human development and the security of the water-energy-food nexus.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

Abbreviations

f:

Food

fg:

Food group

r:

Region

xs:

Security index category

\(\mu\) :

Water, energy, or food sector

AccessE:

Population with access to electricity

agr:

Agricultural

biomass:

Biomass electricity

dam:

Dams

dem:

Demand

des:

Desalination plants

dom:

Domestic

E:

Energy

eolic:

Eolic electricity

F:

Food

fossil:

Fossil fuels

hdi:

Human Development Index

hydro:

Hydropower

I:

Index

imp:

Imported

ind:

Industrial

lives:

Livestock

NAccessE:

Population without access to electricity

NAccessF:

Population without access to food

NAccessW:

Population without access to water

P:

Portion of food

Pop:

Population

prod:

Produced

pv:

Solar photovoltaic

reclaimed:

Reused water

SDI:

Sustainable Development Index

solar:

Solar electricity

W:

Water

ρ:

Priority

\({E}_{r}^{prod}\) :

Energy produced

\({E}_{r}^{dem}\) :

Energy demand

\({E}_{r}^{fossil}\) :

Fossil fuel energy

\({E}_{r}^{eolic}\) :

Eolic energy

\({E}_{r}^{pv}\) :

Photovoltaic solar energy

\({E}_{r}^{hydro}\) :

Hydroelectric energy

\({E}_{r}^{biomass}\) :

Biomass energy

\({E}_{r}^{dom}\) :

Energy for domestic use

\({E}_{r}^{ind}\) :

Energy for industrial use

\({E}_{r}^{agr}\) :

Energy for agricultural use

\({E}_{r}^{lives}\) :

Energy for livestock use

\({F}_{r}^{lives}\) :

Food produced by livestock

\({F}_{r}^{agr}\) :

Food produced by agriculture

\({F}_{f,r}^{prod}\) :

Total food produced

\({I}^{WEF}\) :

Nexus security index

\({I}^{water}\) :

Water security index

\({I}_{Availability}^{W}\) :

Water availability index

\({I}_{Accesibility}^{W}\) :

Water accessibility index

\({I}_{Sustainability}^{W}\) :

Water sustainability index

\({I}^{energy}\) :

Energy security index

\({I}_{Availability}^{E}\) :

Energy availability index

\({I}_{Accesibility}^{E}\) :

Energy accessibility index

\({I}_{Sustainability}^{E}\) :

Energy sustainability index

\({I}^{food}\) :

Food security index

\({I}_{Availability}^{F}\) :

Food availability index

\({I}_{Accesibility}^{F}\) :

Food accessibility index

\({I}_{Sustainability}^{F}\) :

Food sustainability index

\({({I}_{xs}^{\mu })}_{r}\) :

WEF nexus security and human development indicator

\({({I}_{xs}^{\mu s})}_{r}\) :

Security index of the sectors (water, energy, food) associated with the security index category

\({I}_{r}^{hdi}\) :

Human Development Index based on access to electricity in each region

\({I}^{SDI}\) :

Sustainable development index

\(Populatio{n}_{r}\) :

Total population

\(Po{p}_{r}^{AccessE}\) :

Population with access to energy

\(Po{p}_{r}^{NAccessW}\) :

Population without access to water

\(Po{p}_{r}^{NAccessE}\) :

Population without access to energy

\({P}_{r,fg}^{prod}\) :

Portions of food produced

\({P}_{r,fg}^{dem}\) :

Portions demanded by the total population

\(Po{p}_{r}^{NAccessF}\) :

Population without access to food

\({P}_{r,fg}^{imp}\) :

Portions of food imported

\({W}_{r}^{prod}\) :

Water produced

\({W}_{r}^{dem}\) :

Water demand

\({W}_{r}^{imp}\) :

Water imported

\({W}_{r}^{dom}\) :

Water for domestic use

\({W}_{r}^{ind}\) :

Water for industrial use

\({W}_{r}^{agr}\) :

Water for agricultural use

\({W}_{r}^{lives}\) :

Water for livestock use

\({W}_{r}^{well}\) :

Water from wells

\({W}_{r}^{dam}\) :

Water from dams

\({W}_{r}^{des}\) :

Water from desalination plants

\({W}_{r}^{reclaimed}\) :

Energy reclaimed

\(\rho\) :

Priority assigned to each of the nexus security indicators

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from Mexico's National Council for Science and Technology (Conacyt-FORDECYT/12SE/2018/11/29-05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Francisco J. Múgica S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, 58060, Morelia, Mich, México

    Brenda Cansino-Loeza, Sergio Yael Bazán-Ramírez & José María Ponce-Ortega

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  1. Brenda Cansino-Loeza
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  2. Sergio Yael Bazán-Ramírez
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  3. José María Ponce-Ortega
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Correspondence to José María Ponce-Ortega.

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Cansino-Loeza, B., Bazán-Ramírez, S.Y. & Ponce-Ortega, J.M. Optimizing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus System Considering the Human Development Index. Process Integr Optim Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-024-00422-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-024-00422-6

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