Energy-Environmental Impact Assessment of Greenhouse Grown Tomato: A Case Study in Almeria (Spain)

Autor: Raquel González-Felipe, José Carlos Romero, Katia Hueso-Kortekaas
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: World, Vol 2, Iss 27, Pp 425-441 (2021)
World
Volume 2
Issue 3
Pages 27-441
ISSN: 2673-4060
DOI: 10.3390/world2030027
Popis: Tomato is one of the most common crops across the world, but it is also one of the types of food that generates the most losses across its life cycle. This paper addresses this issue by providing a Life Cycle Analysis of greenhouse grown tomato in southern Spain. The results confirm that tomatoes are a thirsty and frail crop. Most of its energy demands and carbon emissions go to packaging (35%) and transportation (42%) as well as supplying water for their growth. There seems to be room for improvement in the recovery of energy (54.6%) and CO2 emissions, mainly addressing the waste treatment of packaging and plastic as well as improving transportation. Despite being highly water demanding, irrigation processes are already efficient in industrial greenhouses, and most of the water recovery will need to take place in the waste recovery stage. Food losses at the consumption phases do not constitute a significant loss in energy or a significant amount of carbon emissions saved.
Databáze: OpenAIRE