Summary
Automated systematic review by Consensus AI covering 50 papers selected from 63,255 candidates. Examines community-level self-sufficiency measurement across energy, water, and food systems. Confirms domain-specific metrics are well-established; composite frameworks remain fragmented. Provides citation-level evidence for multiple sector-specific formulas and composite index approaches.
Key claims
- 50 papers reviewed; concludes no standardised composite framework for community-level SS exists across energy, water, and food simultaneously. CR_003
- Energy SSR = locally consumed renewables / total community demand — consistent definition across literature. CR_003
- Water security measured via resource-based indices (availability per capita, reliability, external source independence) or experiential survey scales. CR_003
- Food SS: Food Self-Sufficiency Index (FSSI) compares potential local production to dietary requirements under various scenarios; foodshed models estimate required land area. CR_003
- WEF Nexus Index aggregates water, energy, food security indicators via normalisation and weighting into a single composite score. CR_003
- NSATs (LEED-ND, BREEAM Communities, CASBEE-UD, DGNB-NSQ, Green Star) use weighted credit point scores — none compute a single self-sufficiency ratio. CR_003
- Burkynskyi et al. (2025) hierarchical index classifies communities along crisis-to-absolute-sufficiency spectrum using 9 infrastructure capacity blocks. CR_003
- Participatory approaches (Lopez-Merino et al. 2026; Dessouky et al. 2023) allow communities to weight indicators by local priorities including well-being, cultural values, and operational concerns. CR_003
Methodological challenges documented
- Lack of consensus on indicator definitions and weighting across contexts. CR_003
- Difficulty aggregating across sectors and scales in a single score. CR_003
- Limited attention to dynamic change over time — most tools are static snapshots. CR_003
- Insufficient stakeholder participation in most existing frameworks. CR_003
- Trade-offs between cross-community comparability and context specificity remain unresolved. CR_003
Underlying sources (selected from 50 reviewed papers)
- Afzalan & Jazizadeh (2021), Energies — energy trading self-sufficiency quantification
- Kim et al. (2023), Energies — actual vs estimated self-sufficiency rates in energy communities
- Menconi et al. (2022), Land Use Policy — food self-sufficiency index
- Schreiber et al. (2020), Environmental Research Letters — foodshed quantification review
- Simpson et al. (2022), Frontiers in Water — WEF Nexus Index
- Raya-Tapia et al. (2023), Sustainable Production and Consumption — WEF-Waste nexus
- Burkynskyi et al. (2025), Science and Innovation — economic self-sufficiency index
- Octavianti & Staddon (2021), WIREs Water — 80 water security tool review
- Sharifi et al. (2021), Journal of Cleaner Production — NSAT review
Notes
Corroborates CR_002: both independently confirm absence of a unified composite framework. The two sources together provide strong dual-source confirmation that domain-specific ratios (ESR, WSR, FSR) are the most robust calculation foundation available.
Research targets
Documents to retrieve
- [RT_011] Afzalan & Jazizadeh (2021) — Quantification of Demand-Supply Balancing Capacity among Prosumers and Consumers: Community Self-Sufficiency Assessment for Energy Trading; defines ESR formula used across literature (Energies, doi:10.3390/en14144318). → I01, I03
- [RT_012] Kim et al. (2023) — Comparative Analysis of Estimated and Actual Power Self-Sufficiency Rates in Energy-Sharing Communities with Solar Power Systems; critical for calibrating NI energy calculations (Energies, doi:10.3390/en16247941). → I01
- [RT_015 → LIT_065, verified 2026-07-16] Octavianti & Staddon (2021) — review of 80 water security assessment tools; most comprehensive review of water security measurement frameworks (WIREs Water 8, doi:10.1002/wat2.1516). ⚠ Prior “I03” tag was wrong (I03 = Cultural Heritage — this is a D03 water-domain method). → D03
- [RT_028] Schreiber et al. (2020) — Quantifying the foodshed: systematic review of urban food flow and local food self-sufficiency research; methodology for I02 food self-sufficiency (Environ. Res. Lett. 16, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/abad59). → I02, D02
- [RT_029] Haider et al. (2017) — sustainability assessment framework for small-sized urban neighbourhoods using fuzzy synthetic evaluation; multi-criteria composite directly applicable to NI design (Sust. Cities Soc. 36:21-32, doi:10.1016/j.scs.2017.09.031). → NI design
- [RT_030] Simpson et al. (2022) — Water-Energy-Food Nexus Index: tool for integrated resource planning; composite WEF index methodology (Frontiers in Water, doi:10.3389/frwa.2022.825854). → NI design, D01, D02, D03
- [RT_031] Schmidt et al. (2022) — framework for assessing food-energy-water security with rural Alaska case studies; remote community context directly parallel to NZ rural settings (Sci. Total Env. 153355, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153355). → I04, I03
Connections
Links to
Sources (1): CR_002
Referenced by
SSI indicators (3): I02: Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture · I07: Fulfilment of Basic Needs · I09: Environmental Sustainability
Concepts (1): Self-Sufficiency Calculation Framework
Sources (1): LIT_077