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Food production and consumption have a range of sustainability implications, including their contribution to global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). As some foodstuffs entail higher GHG emissions than others, managing their use in tourism-related contexts could make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. This article reviews the carbon intensity of selected foods and discusses how foodservice providers could adapt their practices. It shows that even though food management could substantially reduce the GHG emissions of foodservice providers, its application is currently hampered by the complexity of food production chains and a lack of dependable data on the GHG intensity of foodstuffs. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a number of recommendations in respect of how foodservice providers can better purchase, prepare and present foods. Further research is now needed to refine and extend our understanding of the contribution that food management can make to reducing tourism’s carbon ‘foodprint’.

Almost a billion people globally lack access to electricity. For various reasons, grid extension is not an immediately viable solution for the un(der-) electrified communities. As most of these electricity-starved regions lie in tropical latitudes, the use of off-grid solar-based solutions like solar home systems (SHS) is a logical approach. However, state-of-the-art SHS is limited in its power levels and availability. Moreover, sub-optimal system sizing leads to either over-utilization --- and therefore, faster degradation --- of the SHS battery, or under-utilization of the SHS battery, leading to higher system costs. Additionally, off-grid SHS designs suffer from a lack of reliable load profile data needed as the first step for an off-grid photovoltaic (PV) system (e.g., SHS) design. The work undertaken in this dissertation aims to analyze the technological limits and opportunities of using SHS in terms of power level, availability, and battery size, lifetime for achieving universal electrification. Firstly, the three main electrification pathways, viz., grid extension, centralized microgrids, and standalone solar-based solutions like pico-solar and SHS are analyzed for their relative merits and demerits. Then, a methodology is presented to quantify the electricity demand of the households in the form of load profiles for the various tiers of electricity access as outlined by the multi-tier framework (MTF) for measuring the household electricity access. Secondly, for the SHS application, a non-empirical battery lifetime estimation methodology is presented that can be used at the design phase of SHS for comparing the performance of candidate battery choices at hand in the form of battery lifetime. Thirdly, an optimal standalone system size is evaluated for each tier of electrification, taking into account the battery lifetime, temperature impact on SHS performance, power supply availability in terms of the loss of load probability (LLP), and excess PV energy. A genetic algorithm-based multi-objective optimization is performed, giving insights on the delicate interdependencies of the various system metrics like LLP, excess energy, and battery lifetime on the SHS sizing. This exercise concludes that meeting the electricity requirements of tiers 4 and 5 level of electrification is untenable through SHS alone. Consequently, a bottom-up DC microgrid born out of the interconnection of SHS is explored. A modular and scalable architecture for such a bottom-up, interconnected SHS-based architecture is introduced, and the benefits of the microgrid over standalone SHS are quantified in terms of lower battery sizes and the defined system metrics. On modeling the energy sharing between the SHS, it is shown that battery sizing gains of more than 40% could be achieved with inter-connectivity at tier 5 level as compared to standalone SHS to meet the same power availability threshold. Finally, a Geo-Information System (GIS)-based methodology is presented that takes into account the spatial spread of the households while utilizing graph theory-based approaches to arrive at the optimal microgrid topology in terms of network length. The research carried out in this dissertation underlines the technological limitations of SHS in aiming towards universal electrification, while highlighting the benefits of moving towards a bottom-up approach in building (rural) DC microgrids through SHS, which can enable the climb up the so-called electrification ladder. DC systems, Energy conversion & Storage

Destabilization of the water cycle threatens human lives and livelihoods. Meanwhile our understanding of whether and how changes in vegetation cover could trigger abrupt transitions in moisture regimes remains incomplete. This challenge calls for better evidence as well as for the theoretical concepts to describe it. Here we briefly summarise the theoretical questions surrounding the role of vegetation cover in the dynamics of a moist atmosphere. We discuss the previously unrecognized sensitivity of local wind power to condensation rate as revealed by our analysis of the continuity equation for a gas mixture. Using the framework of condensation-induced atmospheric dynamics, we then show that with the temperature contrast between land and ocean increasing up to a critical threshold, ocean-to-land moisture transport reaches a tipping point where it can stop or even reverse. Land-ocean temperature contrasts are affected by both global and regional processes, in particular, by the surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat that are strongly influenced by vegetation. Our results clarify how a disturbance of natural vegetation cover, e.g., by deforestation, can disrupt large-scale atmospheric circulation and moisture transport. In view of the increasing pressure on natural ecosystems, successful strategies of mitigating climate change require taking into account the impact of vegetation on moist atmospheric dynamics. Our analysis provides a theoretical framework to assess this impact. The available data for Eurasia indicate that the observed climatological land-ocean temperature contrasts are close to the threshold. This can explain the increasing fluctuations in the continental water cycle including droughts and floods and signifies a yet greater potential importance for large-scale forest conservation. 25 pages, 5 figures, and 1 table

The diversification of agri-food products through emerging chains has a fundamental social and economic role in Ecuador. A substantial amount of research focused only on examining critical factors in terms of agronomic and environmental performance. However, there is a shift in the agri-food chain perspective and study towards more sustainable models of production, logistics trade, and consumption. Aspects such as the socio-economic sustainability, level of collaboration between actors, an adequate chain configuration, and the employment of smart governance mechanisms show the weaknesses where stakeholders can propose enhancements. In this respect, socioeconomic and productive factors are consequential and still affecting the progress of these chains. Also, the current growth of market opportunities at the local and international level is a driver to support them by setting sustainable strategies. This study aimed to analyze socio-economic and production aspects to understand the dynamic across the emerging Inca berry (Physalis peruviana) chain located in Ecuador and bring forward potential strategies. Thus, chain vertical and horizontal dimensioning was introduced to contribute with relevant insights. The framework applied accounts with a revision of primary and support activities, and flows of high and low relevance. The investigation clustered pre-production, production, and post-production tiers. Also, it executed the food chain mapping, the identification of chain actors, and application of surveys at the supply chain levels to identify strengths and weaknesses based on specific socio-economic and productive variables. Results stated several viable long-term strategies. Examples of those strategies are the diversification of marketing channels, the intervention of academic institutions to improve efficiency, productivity, and the associations' empowerment. All of them aimed at circular economic models. The main research contribution is the application of the chain configuration to assess the chain performance comprehensively. Based on the results, our recommendation is incorporating new indicators to analyze the environmental and institutional components profoundly.

AbstractThe effects of rising global temperatures are becoming increasingly evident, with observable consequences such as the melting of polar ice caps, the occurrence of cyclones and hurricanes, desertification, and the destruction of ecosystems. The Italian economy is particularly vulnerable to the climate challenge, due to the prolonged slowdown in economic growth and the high unemployment that have plagued this economy over the last decades. Environmental innovation could be the key to tackling climate change, while at the same time promoting growth and employment. A comprehensive assessment of the effects of environmental innovation on growth and employment at the macroeconomic level should consider the compensation mechanisms associated with productivity gains, the substitution effects between more or less polluting goods, and the role of demand and consumer preferences. However, a comprehensive analysis that includes all of these direct and indirect effects of environmental innovation at the macroeconomic level is still lacking. This study aims to bridge this gap, introducing a structuralist computable general equilibrium model to simulate the effects of an increase in productivity and a change in consumer preferences in favour of less polluting industries in the Italian economy over the period 1995–2050. The results of the simulations indicate that a change in consumer preferences in favour of environmentally friendly goods in the Italian context may be more effective than an increase in productivity in stimulating demand, growth, and employment.

Future dietary changes will increase the global demand for agricultural resources per person. Food production requires several resources which are interrelated: land, water, nutrients and energy. Other studies have calculated the per capita requirements of only one resource (nitrogen or land). In this paper, we combine several parameters (diets, production systems and nitrogen-land trade-off) in one analysis in order to provide a more integrated assessment of the impacts of the use of agricultural resources for food. We estimated the trade-off between the per capita use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and crop land. With our methodology, we are able to identify separately the impacts of the type of diet and of the type of production system. We use national level data of five countries as examples of global extremes: from extensive to highly intensive systems, and from very basic diets to very affluent diets. The present differences in diets and production systems result in large differences in the per capita use of resources which ranges from 3 to 30 kg of nitrogen fertilizer use per person, and from 1800 to 4500 m2 of arable land use per person. As the results show, in 2050, the average per capita availability of crop land will not be enough to produce food for affluent diets with present production systems. Our results are useful to assess future requirements of nitrogen fertilizer for the limited land available on the planet.