Investigating the Food-Energy-Water Nexus through Embedded Resource Accounting

Food-energy-water (FEW) nexus frameworks can enhance our understanding of interconnections, feedback, and dependencies in the FEW systems. Complex, connecting stressors such as increasing population, urbanization, climate change, and economic development will all influence the sustainable usage of food, energy, and water. This presentation will highlight a variety of techniques from the field of embedded resource accounting, including water footprint and nitrogen footprint tools, to build knowledge around the FEW nexus. These embedded resource estimation or footprint methods allow for a comparison between water, food, and energy under one unit of measurement. To investigate the water footprint efficiency across the US, this research examines the scaling properties of water footprint production and consumption with various sociodemographic information. Using network science approaches, we also investigate the structure and characteristics of the virtual water networks embedded in US food and energy transfers. This study also develops an interstate network of virtual nitrogen (N) transfer embedded in food production and compares network characteristics of the virtual N to the virtual water transfer network. Finally, the study examines uncertainty in the footprint values due to the variability in the commodity trade across the US. These research pursuits provide tools and techniques using open-source information to inform understandings across the FEW nexus.