Multi-objective water–energy–food–environment Nexus optimization for wheat production in the North China plain
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Intensive wheat production in the North China Plain is central to regional food security, but it also places strong pressure on groundwater resources, fertilizer demand, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Integrated water-energy-food-environment (WEFE) planning is therefore needed to identify strategies that can reduce environmental burdens for a fixed wheat-production functional unit. This study develops a farm-scale WEFE nexus optimization model for 1 ha of wheat production and compares five scenarios: baseline, circular economy, decarbonization, water scarcity, and integrated sustainability. The model evaluates alternative water-supply, nutrient-recovery, and electricity-generation pathways using cost, life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, circularity, and nexus performance indicators. Under the baseline compromise solution, total cost and greenhouse gas emissions were 549.67 USD ha −1 and 1537.72 kg CO₂-eq ha −1 , respectively, with a renewable-energy share of 60.46% and irrigation circularity of 12.73%. The integrated scenario achieved the strongest overall performance, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 49% to 784.79 kg CO₂-eq ha −1 , increasing fertilizer recovery to 40%, and raising the renewable-energy share to 92.70% under the fixed wheat-production requirement. These results show that coordinated water reuse, nutrient recovery, and electricity decarbonization provide greater sustainability gains than single-sector interventions. The study contributes a nexus-based optimization framework for evaluating circular and low-carbon agricultural transitions in water-stressed cereal production systems.
Author: Gaodi Yang
Institution: Hubei University of Education
Language: English
Subfield: Water Science and Technology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,353
OpenAlex ID: W7212082572