Assessing environmental sustainability by combining product service systems and life cycle perspective: A case study of hydroponic urban farming models in India.

ABSTRACT

Hydroponics technology offers an environmentally sustainable alternative to conventional farming for urban food needs. It attracts technologists, non-farmers, retailers, restaurants, and consumers. However, the environmental impact of hydroponics-based urban farming models is yet to be quantified. This study assesses the environmental impact of hydroponics-based urban farming models and makes suggestions to improve their adoption. The methodology involves the use of the Product-Service Systems perspective to categorise the hydroponics-based urban farming models and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to quantify their environmental impact from a cradle-to-gate perspective. The analysis focuses on the lettuce crop in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The results from the study suggest that that greenhouse farming (BM1) is more environmentally sustainable than indoor farming (BM2), Cabinet selling and remote monitoring (BM3), and conventional farming. It outperforms other models in terms of GHG emissions, Human Toxicity, and fossil fuels per unit of product, with BM3 having high environmental impacts.