1 | | Environmental sustainability: A review of the water-energy-food nexus | This article classifies sectors as "agricultural", "industrial" and "urban" and refer to the WEF-related environmental impacts of each of these sectors. It also analyzes the role of groundwater in the abovementioned sectors |
2 | | A review of energy-for-water data in energy-water nexus publications | Focus placed on the quantification of energy consumption of urban water services on a meta-level |
3 | | Linking environmental policy integration and the water-energy-land-(food-)nexus: A review of the European Union’s energy, water, and agricultural policies | In-depth qualitative comparative review analysis of those EU energy, water and agricultural policies that were identified to show a significant degree of implemented vertical and horizontal policy integration |
4 | | Critical review of the energy-water-carbon nexus in cities | This article is a meta-study on urban energy for water/water for energy consumption. Carbon, albeit mentioned in the title, is discussed far more superficially, considering CO2 emissions of energy and water infrastructures |
5 | | A water-energy nexus review from the perspective of urban metabolism | This review revolves around the water-energy sustainability in cities and shows that both resource and demand management are necessary for further advancements. It is focused on interconnection of water-energy rather than the nexus in general |
6 | | Water-energy nexus: A review of methods and tools for macro-assessment | This is a review of a wide range of modelling methods that have been used in the existing macro-level water-energy nexus studies. In total, 70 case studies are surveyed (tools and methods), shortened to a selection of 35 macro-level case studies at different geographical scales. In total 6 methods out of the 35 methods focus at water and energy (i.e., nexus) |
7 | | Sensor technologies for the energy-water nexus–A review | Article rather focused on technical aspects on water-energy interdependencies that are addressed through sensor technologies |
8 | | A review on water-energy nexus and directions for future studies: From supply to demand | Interdisciplinary review covering quantitative and qualitative studies from various fields ranging from engineering to geography. The review draws from publications from academic journals, state and federal government agency reports, and international and non-governmental organization report on the water-energy nexus |
9 | Kaddoura and El Khatib ( 2017) | Review of water-energy-food nexus tools to improve the nexus modelling approach for integrated policy making | Review focused on nexus modelling tools. Interesting aspects of the analysis that are helpful are the analysis criteria of the tools' capabilities to recognize vital elements as well as gaps of the nexus approach |
10 | | A review of the current state of research on the water, energy, and food nexus | Review of the water, energy, and food nexus, additionally, it refers to climate as well. It highlights that while there is lack of a clear definition, nexus approaches provide a platform to link various stakeholders |
11 | | The Energy-water nexus: A literature Review of the Dependence of Energy on Water, | Review of 123 articles on the water-energy nexus, highlighting an unbalanced distribution of the literature across regions (mainly USA and Australia) with most of them focused on a specific area of the nexus and only a couple on global scale. Overall, studies on the dependence of solar, wind and geothermal energy generation are lacking |
12 | | A review of water-forest-energy-food security nexus data and assessment of studies in East Africa, | The paper offers a current state of knowledge on water-forest-energy-food-climate nexus in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. It provides an aim and definition of the nexus approach and highlights the intention of coordinating management and use of natural resources across different sectors |
13 | | Water, energy, and food nexus: review of global implementation and simulation model development | The authors found more than 200 published studies on the global implementation and computer model development, narrowing down to 50 papers. It highlights the emergence of the nexus concept as a way to integrate different sectors under one framework for sustainable management of resources |
14 | | Food waste and the food-energy-water nexus: A review of food waste management alternatives | This review highlights the lack of knowledge about the consumption of energy and water in food waste management after disposal of the effect on waste management technologies. Additionally, it proposes a conceptual model for the impact of food waste on the WEF nexus. Results call for targeted actions in WEF impact management regarding the proportion of food waste and a calculated management of unpreventable food loss and waste |
15 | Bardazzi and Bosello ( 2021) | Critical reflections on Water-Energy-Food nexus in Computable General Equilibrium models: A systematic literature review | Review about the strategies and methods to integrate the nexus into Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models. It highlights the existence of two main components in the nexus concept: constrains and limitation – related to the exploitation of resources –, and the interconnections and linkages that advance ineffective and inefficient siloes and sectoral perspectives on resources management |
16 | | Food, energy, and water nexus research in Guatemala–A systematic literature review | Article that highlights that the focus of the WEF nexus in Guatemala has been on climate change adaptation, tackling poverty through clean water and sanitation, renewable energies, and urbanization and agricultural modernization |
17 | | A comprehensive review on types, methods and different regions related to water–energy–food nexus | A scientometric examination of the water, energy, food nexus, as well as a bibliometric analysis of the WEF nexus. It includes mapping of keywords, indicating that “water”, “climate change”, “food” and “sustainable development” are the most used terms. Also, most papers come from the USA, China and the United Kingdom, while most citations from the USA, China, UK and Australia. It highlights the need for a transboundary approach for nexus problems and the promotion of sustainable development |
18 | Corona-López et al. ( 2021) | Water–food nexus assessment in agriculture: A systematic review | Review study carried out searching terms “water” and “nexus” in Scopus between 2002–2020. The results indicated that only 2.4% of the articles refer to a water-food nexus evaluation. The authors therefore argue further research is needed. They mention that the definition of the nexus concept relates to a promotion of interconnecting natural resources management and guaranteeing rights to these resources |
19 | | Understanding the conceptual frameworks and methods of the food-energy-water nexus at the household level for development-oriented policy support: A systematic review | Review that highlights the importance of the spatial scale component, calling to focus on a "local/micro level" (households), as most research focuses on larger scales. It stresses the need for a clear interface between qualitative and quantitative methods, the relevance of context-specificity, the development of indicators and indices to use across different disciplines, as well as the importance of adopting transdisciplinary approaches |
20 | | Implementing the urban food–water–energy nexus through urban laboratories: a systematic literature review | This is partly a review of reviews that highlights the importance of integrating power, politics and inequalities with a focus on cross-scale or multi-level dynamics |
21 | Caiado Couto et al. ( 2021) | Water, waste, energy and food nexus in Brazil: Identifying a resource interlinkage research agenda through a systematic review | Review that includes articles of case studies describing resource use and management practices used in Brazil; use and management practices for one or more resources; focused on rural areas; and emerging techniques |
22 | | The role of green roofs in urban Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem nexus: A review | Review that includes analysis on WEF and ecosystems, referring to benefits and limitations |
23 | | Water-energy-food nexus: Critical review, practical applications, and prospects for future research | Review that lists 20 criticism points and highlights 16 nexus features. It analyses 10 WEF frameworks and their main features, regarding the influence of external factors on the WEF management, differences on the concern of organizations, scales and exogenous factors influencing WEF |
24 | | A review of the water-energy-food nexus research in Africa | Article that mentions 3 paradigms of WEF nexus research in Africa: 1) Positivism (knowledge-oriented), 2) Constructivism (problem-oriented), and 3) Pragmatism (transdisciplinary approach); and identifies 3 major author-co-citation networks for papers on the WEF nexus in Africa |
25 | | A review of the water-related energy consumption of the food system in nexus studies | Review on energy for water in the food system, focused on the quantification of energy for water consumption. It highlights common approaches and tools such as material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, environmentally extended input output analysis, system dynamics modelling, ecological network analysis, and optimization and mathematical modelling approaches |
26 | | The historical footprint and future challenges of water-energy-food nexus research: A bibliometric review towards sustainable development | Overview of reviews, it highlights that most research used two or more research tools (e.g., LCA and input–output analysis), the relevance of transdisciplinarity (by involving experts and stakeholders in the policy-making process) |
27 | | The conceptual basis of water-energy-food nexus governance: systematic literature review using network and discourse analysis | Article that mentions the "lack of critical approaches to the nexus debate itself.” and little visibility of the matter, as well as the lack of ideal methods to address nexus-topics, rather striving for “methodological pluralism”. However, it stresses that a nexus concept cannot be universally applied, given the context-specificity; the conceptual diversity towards the approach, leaving it rather open; and the relevance of transdisciplinarity |
28 | | Food, energy and water nexus: A brief review of definitions, research, and challenges | Article of a rather compilation character, collecting information from various sources; highlighting the lack of stakeholder engagement and the challenges in coordinating the WEF sectors |
29 | | The role of food-energy-water nexus analyses in urban growth models for urban sustainability: A review of synergistic framework | This article mentions uses the nexus as a systematic approach to address the co-evolution of urban systems urban; highlighting main uncertainties related to multiplicity of data sources, decision-makers, scaling issues and the associated uncertainties of models |
30 | | Food system and water energy biodiversity nexus in Nepal: A review | Review that highlights the nexus as an analysis tools to quantify link among sectors. It includes biodiversity in the nexus |
31 | | A Review on Water-Energy-Greenhouse Gas nexus of the Bioenergy Supply and Production System | Scoping review that understands the nexus approach as a support for management of resources and showing an increase in the literature addressing the water-energy nexus alongside greenhouse gas emissions, especially for the bioenergy and biomass industry |
32 | Avgoustaki and Xydis ( 2020) | Plant factories in the water-food-energy nexus era: a systematic bibliographical review | Review of nexus-related articles in the context of urban farming and plant factories, highlighting the existing data and information gap and the relevance of the use of renewable energies for the implementation of the WEF nexus |
33 | | A review on the water-energy nexus for drinking water production from humid air | This article highlights the importance of balancing the energy and water consumption and production |
34 | | The changing nature of the water–energy nexus in urban water supply systems: A critical review of changes and responses | Review focused on the changes in urban water supply systems, mentioning the importance of predictive and integrated modelling and the challenges in developing models that are comprehensive enough to grasp all the components in an urban layout |
35 | | A review of the energy–carbon–water nexus: Concepts, research focuses, mechanisms, and methodologies | Review that includes carbon emissions and climate as additional nexus components, highlighting the low attention put onto relationships between energy and water with carbon emissions. In mentions the nexus as a tool to study the dynamic interrelationships (interconnections and interactions) between two or more components |
36 | Fernandes Torres et al. ( 2019) | A literature review to propose a systematic procedure to develop "nexus thinking" considering the water-energy-food nexus | This article proposes a standardization of the systematic procedure composition steps to use the nexus concept. These steps include: (1) developing a conceptual model (can be assisted by mind maps); (2) advancing in specific methodologies based on composition, diagnosis and prognosis, and decision-making; (3) improving, adjusting and validating the proposed procedures; and (4) designing decision support systems for multi-sectoral integration |
37 | | Urban food-energy-water nexus indicators: A review | Review of indicators that can be used to analyze the WEF nexus (in the context of the urban metabolism), to capture system dynamics and guide policymakers. It concludes that indicators may support policymaking in (a) setting targets and monitoring, managing, protecting and securing the environment; (b) identifying contradictory policies and strategies; and (c) promoting the use of valuation for more cost-effective and sustainable use and management of resources |
38 | | Review of transdisciplinary approaches to food-water-energy nexus: A guide towards sustainable development | Review highlighting the increasing interest in the interrelationships among stakeholders and their early involvement in the developing process of governance solutions. However, advancement in transdisciplinary approaches for the nexus are still needed |
39 | | Sustainable energy, water and food nexus systems: A focused review of decision-making tools for efficient resource management and governance | Review that addresses both qualitative and quantitative decision-making tools related to nexus research. It explores optimization, agent-based modelling and game theory models and their joint use to address complex nexus problem, concluding that they are appropriate to better support decision-making |
40 | | A 40-year review of food-energy-water nexus literature and its application to the urban scale | This article mentions three paradigms of WEF nexus research in Africa: 1) Positivism (knowledge-oriented); 2) Constructivism (problem-oriented); and 3) Pragmatism (transdisciplinary approach). It also refers to modeling tools, qualitative approaches, and co-production strategies to identify and understand relationships amongst WEF nexus components |
41 | | Food-energy-water (FEW) nexus for urban sustainability: A comprehensive review | The results of this review evidence that nexus literature has been focused on the understanding, identification and quantification of interrelationships to guide governance, given the lack of a consistent view on the matter. This research proposes a three-dimensional framework, indicating a view of the nexus concept as an “open concept” |
42 | | Water–energy nexus for water distribution systems: A literature review | The research was geographically distributed primarily between North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, mostly talking about water-energy efficiency in water distribution systems. Conclusions indicate the tendency towards the use of multiple algorithms and modelling tools, rather than single objective approaches, in the search of process optimization |
43 | Simpson and Jewitt ( 2019a) | The development of the water-energy-food nexus as a framework for achieving resource security: A review | This review identifies weaknesses of the nexus concept, associated to the omission of livelihoods and the environment in the assessments. It highlights that the nexus concept “cannot be a one-size-fits-all model”, and, thus, needs scaling, adaptation and modification; evidencing data and information challenges |
44 | | Quantifying the energy, water and food nexus: A review of the latest developments based on life-cycle assessment | The results from this study can provide a better understanding of the water-energy nexus and informative recommendations for future policy directions for the effective management of water and energy. They highlight the differences in the nature of the interlinkages due to variation in the distribution of resources |
45 | | The Water-Energy-Food nexus: A systematic review of methods for nexus assessment | The article concludes that while many studies refer and offer to decision-support, nexus approaches can benefit from different types of knowledge and stakeholder engagement to improve the link to policy outcomes; calling for methodological advancements to develop and effective approach |
46 | | The role of water-energy nexus in optimising water supply systems–Review of techniques and approaches | The paper analyses system optimization models for water supply that takes into consideration energy aspects throughout the supply chain for solving nexus problems and suggests the incorporation of uncertainties from the water supply-side models of the nexus, which are currently lacking |
47 | | Integrated Assessment Models of the Food, Energy, and Water nexus: A Review and an Outline of Research Needs | This paper is a review of Integrated Assessment Modelling; that highlights the need for an “optimization framework for long-term planning purposes”, for “city-based” studies, and for language homogenization or unification |
48 | | Data for WEF nexus Analysis: a Review of Issues | This review identifies main challenges in handling data for WEF nexus analyses, mainly referring to “scope, granularity, representation of interrelationships, proprietary considerations, […] uncertainty, data collection versus data engineering, […] unobserved technological alternatives, data evolution over time, representing resource, and government-based limitations […]”. It concludes that data needs to specially focus on climate change and population growth |
49 | | Model Use in WEF nexus Analysis: a Review of Issues | Article focused on modeling of the WEF nexus, identifying challenges mainly related to “accessibility, usefulness, and accuracy”, while highlighting the main contribution of models in improving the understanding of WEF sector linkages, implication of the management actions, and in facilitating linkages of nexus components |
50 | | Water-energy nexus for urban water systems: A comparative review on energy intensity and environmental impacts in relation to global water risks | Article focused on water supply and treatment systems, highlighting the need for studies at a regional level as a way of improving and advancing the understanding of water and energy use as well as the interlinkages; and the trade-offs between environmental protection and economic growth |
51 | | A review of the water-energy nexus | Review focused on identifying limitations in current research on links and dimensions of water and energy. Conclusions highlight weaknesses in modelling related to the comprehensiveness in addressing all nexus components, restrictive methods, low presence of social and political models, unaccountability of indirect consumptions of water and energy, static nature of models, and data intensive models that require updating and monitoring to ensure consistency |
52 | | Critical review: Uncharted waters? the future of the electricity-water nexus | The results of this review lead to the conclusion of calling for improvement in water- and energy-related data reporting; integration of planning and decision aspects of water and energy management; and the development of policy frameworks that foster strategies that strive for synergies between water and energy |
53 | | Water-energy-greenhouse gas nexus of urban water systems: review of concepts, state-of-art and methods. Holistic study and analysis of the complex dependencies between water and energy and the trade-offs between them in a 'energy use by water systems' point of view | Literature review to identify gaps in water-energy-greenhouse gas nexus studies in an urban context. Focus on studies carried out in the USA, UK and Australia, which account for the majority of references found in the literature. Results indicate a low accountability of indirect use of energy and water overlooking complex interactions, and a lack of a consistent overarching method to study the nexus |
54 | | Water-energy-food nexus in India: a critical review | Literature analysis looking at different interconnections, highlighting the need for (1) improving approaches to address the complexity of the nexus that includes all components from a holistic point of view; (2) future-looking studies; (3) studies focused on water-stressed regions; and (4) improving the country-specific data |
55 | | A bibliometric analysis of the water-energy-food nexus based on the SCIE and SSCI database of the Web of Science | The article includes policy recommendations for China. It therefore partly reads as a policy brief for the Chinese government. Conclusions highlight the need for more integrative and inter-sectoral studies, calling for the inclusion of other components and the development of tools that support accounting for all interactions |
56 | | A bibliometric analysis of food-energy-water nexus literature | Review that highlights the increase in the quantity of nexus-related literature, and the existing room to advance in (1) the development of holistic frameworks and tools that support having a comprehensive view on all the nexus components, including, stakeholders, policy perspectives, and future projections and scenarios; and (2) the data-requirement of frameworks that, so far, have remained on a theoretical ground |
57 | | Recent progress on the water-energy-food nexus using bibliometric analysis | The results of this review highlight the increase in the quantity of publication and citations, dominated by the USA, Canada, western Europe and Chine, with especial focus on environmental sciences and water resources. The main limitations in studies refer to concepts, research dimensions and methods |
58 | | A bibliometric analysis of research on the energy-water nexus from 1963 to 2016 based on SCI-E/SSCI databases | Substantiation of the nexus concept through a keyword-based bibliometric review. Main results highlight that there has been an increase in the cooperation in nexus research; that the top 20 journal publishing on the nexus topic represent around 59% of the total of journals on the matter, while the top 480 author represent around 41% of all authors in the field; and that the main addressed topics are “water management, life cycle assessment, proton exchange membrane fuel cells, desalination and renewable energy, energy efficiency, and climate change.” |
59 | | Benchmarking the scientific research on wastewater-energy nexus by using bibliometric analysis | The review article highlights that energy generation and source recovery topics relate to a water perspective; whereas from an energy perspective, evaluation methods (e.g., LCA, EIA) were commonly used to assess energy efficiency and environmental impact |
60 | | A bibliometric analysis of food–energy–water nexus: Progress and prospects | The review identified the following weaknesses in the WEF nexus approach: (1) siloed perspectives from a single resource or sector, evidencing a lack in interrelating sectors and a focus on identifying rather than minimizing trade-offs between sectors; (2) main use of qualitative and semi-quantitative methods with low correlation between systems; (3) research mainly based on national and international data and statistics with “few spatiotemporal evolution data”; and (4) insufficient multiscale and sub-national research |
61 | Sarkodie and Owusu ( 2020) | Bibliometric analysis of water–energy–food nexus: Sustainability assessment of renewable energy | The article highlights that studies show that a nexus approach is not a “stand-alone conceptual tool” thus profiting from a strong institutional framework; whereas other studies evidence the influence of the economic structure on the WEF nexus, leading to the conclusion of the importance of economic adjustments in the environmental and sustainability outcomes of the WEF sectors |
62 | Simpson and Jewitt ( 2019b) | The water-energy-food nexus in the Anthropocene: moving from ‘nexus thinking’ to ‘nexus action’ | This article highlights the increasing interest in the WEF nexus and the conceptual nature of the research that results on “high-level assessments” that has led to criticism in term of the actual impacts of such an approach. However, authors conclude that “the nexus must be considered to be a framework, not a recipe”, requiring further adaptation on a case-by-case basis. It also highlights the need for both quantitative and qualitative assessments, that advance the rather “apolitical and technical” character of the literature |