Multi-objective Optimization for the Security of Water-Energy-Food Nexus

Climate change, population growth, and rapid urbanization are seriously threatening the security of water, energy, and food resources, which are fundamental for the human survival and sustainable development. These resources are inextricably interrelated and the term Water-Energy-Food Nexus, or other permutations of the three words, refers to the synergies and trade-offs among the three sectors. Nexus planning and management for the overall security of the system are very complicated, because of conflicting objectives among sectors and, at the same time, unavoidable. For this reason, much of the scientific research, that studies sustainability issues and the nexus system, focuses on multi-objective optimization problems. The present work aims at finding several solutions for a Nexus system, by developing a linear mixed-integer multi-objective problem. The weighted Global Criterion Method was adopted as solution method and real-world Water-Energy-Food Nexus scenarios are used to assess the behaviour of the considered approach.