Energy Return on Investment for Aquaponics: Case Studies from Iceland and Spain

Energy use in food production is linked to environmental impact, as most agricultural practices are reliant on fossil fuels. It is therefore of importance to locate food production methods that are less energy intensive than current methods and are also less polluting. Energy return on investment (E...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BioPhysical Economics and Resource Quality 2017-03, Vol.2 (1), Article 3
Main Authors: Atlason, Reynir Smari, Danner, Ragnar Ingi, Unnthorsson, Runar, Oddsson, Gudmundur Valur, Sustaeta, Fernando, Thorarinsdottir, Ragnheidur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural practices
Aquaculture
Aquaponics
Data-driven Science
Economics and Management
Electricity consumption
Energy
Energy consumption
Energy output
Energy Policy
Environmental impact
Farm buildings
Fisheries
Food
Food production
Fossil fuels
Modeling and Theory Building
Natural Resource and Energy Economics
Natural Resources
Original Paper
Production methods
Return on investment
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Summary:Energy use in food production is linked to environmental impact, as most agricultural practices are reliant on fossil fuels. It is therefore of importance to locate food production methods that are less energy intensive than current methods and are also less polluting. Energy return on investment (EROI) is the ratio between the energy used to construct and maintain a given energy production system, against the energy that is provided by the system. Aquaponic systems have environmental benefits over conventional aquaculture systems as the waste is used within the system as fertilizer for plants. In this paper, we analyse the operational performance of three aquaponic systems. Two systems were located in Iceland, and one in northern Spain. We also analyse the energy output with respect to edible protein contents. After 10 years of partially simulated operation, the EROI of the Hondarribia, Sudarvogur and Akur systems was 0.055:1, 0.016:1 and 0.106:1, respectively. Our results indicate that aquaponic operations benefit from operating within a greenhouse and that direct electricity consumption is the largest energy input in the aquaponics systems. The aquaponics systems studied returned one half to one tenth the EROI as compared to conventional fisheries or aquaculture.
ISSN:2366-0112
2366-0120
DOI:10.1007/s41247-017-0020-5