Managing agricultural crop and livestock land use for synergistic energy-economy-environment development: A hybrid multi-objective optimization approach under a waste-to-energy nexus

Abstract

Facing the dual challenges of an energy crisis and climate warming, this paper introduces an integrated uncertain optimization framework for sustainable agricultural crop and livestock management under waste-to-energy nexus, aiming at maximizing bioenergy production, economic profit, and minimizing allocation risks, nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon footprints. The framework addresses return-risk tradeoffs, decision-making attitudes, and uncertainties in agricultural systems; reconciles conflicting objectives among energy, economic, and environmental spheres; identifies bioenergy potentials from crop and livestock management; and validated through a case study in Hubei province, China. Flexible resource allocation schemes answer questions commonly asked by decision makers: “Where are the bioenergy production potentials from agricultural wastes?” and “Which efforts will lead to better agricultural sustainability?”. Compared to current practices, optimal results show increased economic profits by 5.07 ×10⁸ CNY, reduced allocation risks by 5.02 ×10⁸ CNY, reduced environmental impacts by 0.89×10⁸ kg N, 0.26×10⁶ kg P, and 0.37×10¹⁰ kg CO₂, and significant bioenergy potential 2.304 ×10¹¹ MJ contributed by crop straw and livestock manure recycling. The proposed model performed well in generating robust and coordinated solutions. This study offers an optimization-based solution towards sustainable energy transition and global warming mitigation, as well as valuable insights for other systems suffering similar energy and environmental crises.