Life Cycle Assessment of circular symbiotic indoor food production systems: Challenges in the scope definition

• Published in: Procedia CIRP 2023, Vol.116, p.510-515
• Main Authors: Buchholz, Britta, Cerdas, Felipe, Juraschek, Max, Herrmann, Christoph
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: food production; indoor farming; Life cycle assessment; multi-functionality; symbiosis
• ISSN: 2212-8271; 2212-8271
• DOI: 10.1016/j.procir.2023.02.086

The growing world population leads to an increasing demand for food, while sufficient and healthy nutrition is already a major issue in some areas. In this context, agricultural production is facing various challenges. Increasing competition for arable land, water shortage as well as consequences of climate change challenge the current and future production capacity. At the same time, agriculture is one of the sectors with the highest contribution to climate change and other environmental impacts. Circular indoor food production systems are systems that combine the production of different products, as for instance aquaponics. They are a promising approach to help to overcome these challenges. These systems can ensure a resource efficient production and the provision of healthy food in a stable quality while being independent of fertile soils and weather influence. The assessment of environmental impacts of this production system is complex and a consistent methodological approach is required. This paper presents an analysis of the elements for performing life cycle assessment of such systems, for example in the definition of system boundaries, functional unit or handling allocation, and explores their potential impact on the results.