Optimising the energy, water and food nexus node to support decision making for sustainable food security in Risky Environments

Abstract As the population continues to rise, the need for energy, water and food (EWF) resources are increasing in parallel. Accordingly, the EWF nexus has received considerable attention in previous years as a means to manage resources given the inherent interlinkages between them. The objective of this study is to expand on geospatial nexus approaches to support decision-making for EWF resources in non-resilience environments. A simple linear optimization model is applied to a geospatial representation of decentralised EWF systems to enhance the EWF nexus node approach and analysis of resilience. The methodology is applied to hydroponic greenhouses in Qatar, where the water is the core factor that affects the overall efficiency and AHP risk level. Thus, the optimization model introduces a new EWF node that operates at minimum cost whilst reducing the AHP risk level of existing EWF nodes. The objective function of the optimisation model accounts for three cost components; the cost of groundwater transportation, pumping and desalination, that is subjected to certain constraints; one constraint is suggested for the new EWF node to select a low risk area, hence ensuring low operating costs; three constraints assigned to identify a location for the new EWF node that will minimise risks of the three existing nodes, hence, reducing high AHP value of three farms; and the last constraint used to select one node only at an optimal location. The result demonstrates that with the allocation of a new EWF nexus node at an optimal location to be the main source of water supply, the risk level for all three existing nodes will reduce tremendously.