Home | Methodologies in Life Cycle Assessment Considering Economy and Water Resource and Its Application to The Evaluation of Agricultural Production

Summary of Our Research

Seasonal variation of water stress was evaluated for rice production in paddy field, and resulting environmental burden of water resource consumption was analyzed. In the evaluation, new indices were used; Differential Water Footprint (DWF) and Integrated Water Footprint (IWF). They were previously developed as Expanded Water Footprint (EWF) and Occupied Water Footprint (OWF), respectively, and their names were changed to those which adequately represent their characteristics and concepts. Ibaraki, Niigata and Kagawa were chosen as study sites, and cultivation scenarios were constructed on the basis of prefectural guidelines. In the scenario, acceptable delay was also estimated which is original concept introduced by the author, and is the central factor for DWF and IWF. These factors were used to evaluate water stresses for target sites together with meteorological and hydrological data, being followed by derivation of DWF and IWF. On the basis of these results, we analyzed seasonal variation of environmental burden and their regional characteristics in terms of water resource consumption of rice production in Japanese paddy field.

Research achievement

Peer-reviewed paper

Susumu Uchida, Kiyotada Hayashi, Indices of Water Footprint on the Basis of the Concept of Acceptable Delay in Water Use: Their Application to Evaluation of Agricultural Production，Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan, 10(1), 2014.1.25, pp.40-48. (Best Paper Award in the 6th prize from The Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan)

Yann B. Blumer, Michael Stauffacher, Daniel J. Lang, Kiyotada Hayashi, Susumu Uchida, Non-technical success factors for bioenergy projects—Learning from a multiple case study in Japan, Energy Policy, 60, 2013, pp. 386-395.

Oral presentation in conference

Susumu Uchida, Evaluation of Water Resource Consumption in Rice Production by Differential Water Footprint Indices, Collected Papers for Presentation In the 51th Annual Meeting of the Japan Section of the Regional Science Association International, Reitaku University, 2014.10.5(3-5), pp.1-6.

Susumu Uchida and Kiyotada Hayashi, Developing Indices of Water Footprint and Their Application to Evaluation of Agricultural Production: On the Basis of the Concept of Acceptable Delay in Water Use, 10th World Congress of The Regional Science Association International, Ayutthaya, Thailand, 2014.5.27-29 (Conference Cancelled)

Susumu Uchida, Improved Water Footprint and Its Application to Agricultural Production, The 23rd Pacific Conference of the Regional Science Association International, Bandung, Indonesia, 2013.7.4(2-4)

Poster presentation in conference

Susumu Uchida, Evaluation of Water Use in Paddy-Rice Production on the Basis of Differential Water Footprint, EcoBalance2014, Tsukuba, 2014.10.29

Topics

【 Archives 】

2015.03.11: Best Paper Award in the 6th prize from The Institute of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan.
2014.10.29: Poster presentation in Ecobalance 2014.
2014.10.05: Oral presentation in The 51st annual meeting of Japan Section of Regional Science Association International.
2014.05.29: 10th World Congress of The Regional Science Association International had been cancelled.
2014.01.25: Published in Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Japan