Exergoenvironmental damages assessment of horticultural crops using ReCiPe2016 and cumulative exergy demand frameworks

Abstract

Horticultural inputs have various potential environmental impacts, which can be simultaneously evaluated by using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. It is considered an appropriate evaluation tool to analyze ecosystems through recognizing, quantifying, and appraising resources depleted and released within the environment. Accordingly, in this work, environmental damages of horticultural crops are evaluated by using LCA technique and CExD analysis under different cropping systems including citrus, hazelnut, kiwifruit, tea, and watermelon in Guilan province of Iran. By applying LCA method and ReCiPe2016, three environmental indicators including human health, ecosystem and resources of the horticultural crops are determined. Functional unit is considered as 10 ton of horticultural crops yield. From the environmental viewpoint, On-Orchard emission and nitrogen fertilizer have the highest emissions in all systems, whilst more pollution is generated in hazelnut production than those in other horticultural crops. Results in CExD show that, amongst all studied horticultural crops, the hazelnut production entails higher energy amount. A comparison of environmental impacts and energy forms show that citrus production is the best, owing to the lowest values of emissions among horticultural productions. As such, this crop is suggested for horticultural crop cultivation. Generally, it can be concluded that modeling of citrus cropping system for other crops, utilization of organic fertilizers, replacement of worn out equipment and improvement of irrigation system can attain more sustainable horticultural production.