Environmental, social and economic sustainability considerations of aquaponics. The case of an aquaponic system at a Norwegian high school

Abstract

This report covers how aquaponics contributes to the sustainability transition by discussing some of the main positive and negative environmental, social and economic aspects. It does this by taking a closer look into how aquaponics relates to different aspects of food systems, land and resource use, environmental pollution and material waste, and societal benefits. It considers how the scale and purpose of aquaponics might impact its economic viability and costs by demonstrating the actual work put into an aquaponic system in order to gain a better understanding of the inputs and outputs required to run such a system for non-commercial users. It also highlights some of the experiences learned through constructing and operating the Small-Scale Urban Pilot Installation (SUPI) aquaponic system developed within the USAGE (Urban Stormwater Aquaponics Garden Environment) project at the high school/upper secondary school Natur videregående skole (Natur VGS) in Oslo, Norway.