Improving energy efficiency of barley production using joint DEA and LCA: Evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and optimization approach

Energy consumption and environmental quality are highly interdependent, we carried out a study to examine energy efficiency and environmental emissions associated with rain-fed barley farms in Kermanshah Province, Iran. Fifty rain-fed barley farms were randomly selected, and production data collected using questionnaires and interviews. Data envelopment analysis(DEA) and life cycle assessment(LCA) were used to quantify and compare environmental indicators before and after efficiency improvements were applied to the farms. To accomplish this, efficient and inefficient farms were identified using DEA. Then environmental emissions were measured again after inefficient farms reached the efficiency limit through management improvements. The results showed that by managing resource use, both energy consumption and environmental emissions can be reduced without yield loss. The initial amount of energy consumed averaged 13,443 MJ/ha while that consumed in the optimal state was determined to be 12,509 MJ/h, resulting in a savings of 934MJ/ha. Based on the results of DEA, reductions in nitrogen fertilizer, diesel fuel and phosphate fertilizer offered the greatest possibilities for energy savings. Combining DEA and LCA showed that efficient resource management could reduce emissions important to abiotic depletion (fossil fuels), human toxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, global warming (GWP100a), fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity