Renewable energy sources for clean and sustainable energy policies in Turkey

Energy is an essential factor to achieve sustainable development. So, countries striving to this end are seeking to reassess their energy systems with a view towards planning energy programmes and strategies in line with sustainable development goals and objectives. As would be expected, the rapid expansion of energy production and consumption has brought with it a wide range of environmental issues at the local, regional and global levels. States have played a leading role in protecting the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. Turkey is an energy importing country with more than half of the energy requirement being supplied by imports, and air pollution is becoming a great environmental concern in the country. On the other hand, Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of the renewable energy sources. In this regard, renewable energy resources appear the most efficient and effective solutions for clean and sustainable energy development in Turkey. This paper provides an overview of global energy use and renewables for clean and sustainable energy policies in Turkey.     

Education and training in renewable energy sources in Serbia and Montenegro

This paper reports the status of Education and Training in Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Serbia and Montenegro (SAM) at the end of May 2003. It was found that universities in SAM do not give diplomas in RES. RES subjects primarily solar and wind energy are taught at graduate levels. RES units are taught as a part of some classical engineering disciplines at undergraduate level especially in solar and biomass energy. Teaching is mainly at encyclopedic level and staff is mainly trained in general fields. This education may be regarded as unsatisfactory and should be expanded and intensified in future.     

Macro-level integrated renewable energy production schemes for sustainable development

The production of renewable clean energy is a prime necessity for the sustainable future existence of our planet. However, because of the resource-intensive nature, and other challenges associated with these new generation renewable energy sources, novel industrial frameworks need to be co-developed. Integrated renewable energy production schemes with foundations on resource sharing, carbon neutrality, energy-efficient design, source reduction, green processing plan, anthropogenic use of waste resources for the production green energy along with the production of raw material for allied food and chemical industries is imperative for the sustainable development of this sector especially in an emission-constrained future industrial scenario. To attain these objectives, the scope of hybrid renewable production systems and integrated renewable energy industrial ecology is briefly described. Further, the principles of Integrated Renewable Energy Park (IREP) approach, an example for macro-level energy production, and its benefits and global applications are also explored.     

Can renewable energy sources sustain affluent society?

Figures commonly quoted on costs of generating energy from renewable sources can give the impression that it will be possible to switch to renewables as the foundation for the continuation of industrial societies with high material living standards. Although renewable energy must be the sole source in a sustainable society, major difficulties become evident when conversions, storage and supply for high latitudes are considered. It is concluded that renewable energy sources will not be able to sustain present rich world levels of energy use and that a sustainable world order must be based on acceptance of much lower per capita levels of energy use, much lower living standards and a zero growth economy.     

Assessing the potential of renewable energy sources in Turkey

To meet Turkey’s growing energy demand, the installed electric power capacity of 27.8 GW in 2001 has to be doubled by 2010 and increased fourfold by 2020. The difference between Turkey’s total primary energy supply (TPES) of from its own sources and total final consumption (TFC) is projected grow from 1 quad (1.06–2.06) in 1999 to 5.71 quads (2.79–8.5) in 2020 (1 QUAD=293.071 TWh). Turkey’s limited amount of fossil fuels has a present average ratio of proved reserves of 97.38 quads to production rate of 3.2 quads yr⁻¹ of about 30 years. Turkey’s reliance on fossil fuel-based energy systems to meet the growing demand is most likely to exacerbate the issues of energy insecurity, national environmental degradation, and global climate change in increasing proportions. Economically-feasible renewable energy potential in Turkey is estimated at a total of ca. 1.69 quads yr⁻¹ (495.4 TWh yr⁻¹) with the potential for 0.67 quads yr⁻¹ (196.7 TWh yr⁻¹) of biomass energy, 0.42 quads yr⁻¹ (124 TWh yr⁻¹) of hydropower, 0.35 quads yr⁻¹ (102.3 TWh yr⁻¹) of solar energy, 0.17 quads yr⁻¹ (50 TWh yr⁻¹) of wind energy, and 0.08 quads yr⁻¹ (22.4 TWh yr⁻¹) of geothermal energy. Pursuit and implementation of sustainability-based energy policy could provide about 90 and 35% of Turkey’s total energy supply and consumption projected in 2010, respectively. Utilization of renewable energy technologies for electricity generation would necessitate about 23.2 Mha (29.8%) of Turkey’s land resources.     

Hydropower for sustainable water and energy development

Turkey has a total gross hydropower potential of 433 GWh/year, but only 125 GWh/year of the total hydroelectric potential of Turkey can be economically used. By the commissioning of new hydropower plants, which are under construction, 36% of the economically usable potential of the country would be tapped. Turkey presently has considerable renewable energy sources. The most important renewable sources are hydropower, biomass, geothermal, solar and wind. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Over the last two decades, global electricity production has more than doubled and electricity demand is rising rapidly around the world as economic development spreads to emerging economies. Not only has electricity demand increased significantly, it is the fastest growing end-use of energy. Therefore, technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power make it an important contributor to the future world energy mix, particularly in the developing countries.     

Overview of energy storage systems for storing electricity from renewable energy sources in Saudi Arabia

Renewable power (photovoltaic, solar thermal or wind) is inherently intermittent and fluctuating. If renewable power has to become a major source of base-load dispatchable power, electricity storage systems of multi-MW capacity and multi-hours duration are indispensable. An overview of the advanced energy storage systems to store electrical energy generated by renewable energy sources is presented along with climatic conditions and supply demand situation of power in Saudi Arabia. Based on the review, battery features needed for the storage of electricity generated from renewable energy sources are: low cost, high efficiency, long cycle life, mature technology, withstand high ambient temperatures, large power and energy capacities and environmentally benign. Although there are various commercially available electrical energy storage systems (EESS), no single storage system meets all the requirements for an ideal EESS. Each EESS has a suitable application range.     

Electricity generation from renewable energy sources in Poland

AbstractFor the European Union's Member States 2001/77/EC Directive on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market determined targets for 2010 of 21% share of electricity from renewable energy sources in total electricity consumption. Particular Member States adopted different measures for development of renewable and in consequence they achieved different results. Poland, being Member State of the EU since 2004 has accepted target of 7.5% for electricity generated from renewable energy sources until 2010. Currently, in this decade, new 2009/28/EC Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources plays significant role in development of renewable energy sources. Directive set new target for 2020. Nowadays is a time for summary and assessment of results fulfilling Directives and monitor progress of new targets. Article presents measures implemented for renewable source energy development, also current state and perspectives of using of renewable energy sources in Poland and in the EU.     

Current utilization and future prospects of emerging renewable energy applications in Canada

Canada has vast renewable energy resources due to its extensive geography and traditionally they have played an important role, particularly prior to the turn of the 20th century. Public interest in new renewable energy technologies (RETs) emerged and grew during the oil shocks of the 1970s and early 1980s. Even though many Canadian provinces had been deriving most of their electricity from hydroelectric power, the first oil crises of the 1970s ignited a strong interest in all forms of renewable energy. Though Canada has huge prospects for low-impact RETs, it is falling behind most industrialized nations in the expansion of these technologies due to a lack of supporting market structures and the absence of appropriate government policies and initiatives. This review focuses on only applications of low-impact emerging RETs that refer to wind, solar, small hydro, geothermal, marine and modern biomass energy. Today, these technologies are mostly in the dissemination, demonstration and early stage of commercialization phase in Canada and currently they contribute less than 1% of the total primary energy consumption. It is evident from the past experience of Europe and Japan that environmentally benign RETs can contribute significantly toward Canada’s Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the use of conventional fossil fuels, and help Canada take an essential step toward a sustainable energy future. In this paper, the current energy utilization scenario of Canada has been analyzed and an array of emerging RET applications has been presented under the category of: (i) green power technologies; (ii) green heat technologies; and (iii) green fuel technologies.     

Hydropower in Turkey for a clean and sustainable energy future

Over the last two decades, global electricity production has more than doubled and electricity demand is rising rapidly around the world as economic development spreads to emerging economies. Not only has electricity demand increased significantly, it is the fastest growing end-use of energy. Therefore, technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power make it an important contributor to the future world energy mix, particularly in the developing countries. This paper deals with policies to meet increasing energy and electricity demand for sustainable energy development in Turkey. Turkey has a total gross hydropower potential of 433 GWh/year, but only 125 GWh/year of the total hydroelectric potential of Turkey can be economically used. By the commissioning of new hydropower plants, which are under construction, 36% of the economically usable potential of the country would be tapped. Turkey's total economically usable small hydropower potential is 3.75 GWh/year.     

Potential and use of renewable energy sources in Croatia

The current share of renewable energy sources in electricity production in Croatia is very high, around 50%. Nevertheless it is expected that the share of renewables will have to rise and efficient strategies must be examined and adopted. The Croatian government has recognised the important role renewable energy sources could play in Croatian energy and electricity supply. The most important barrier for a wider deployment of renewables in energy production is their cost which is still above those of conventional energy sources. As the energy market is currently undergoing the process of liberalisation, support mechanisms that are compatible with an open market philosophy must be adopted. The characteristics of the Croatian power system, the expected consumption, growth and possible future role of renewables in energy and electricity production is presented. The current legislative framework relevant for renewables is analysed and discussed.     

Recognising the potential for renewable energy heating and cooling

Heating and cooling in the industrial, commercial, and domestic sectors constitute around 40–50% of total global final energy demand. A wide range of renewable energy heating and cooling (REHC) technologies exists but they are presently only used to meet around 2–3% of total world demand (excluding from traditional biomass). Several of these technologies are mature, their markets are growing, and their costs relative to conventional heating and cooling systems continue to decline. However, in most countries, policies developed to encourage the wider deployment of renewable electricity generation, transport biofuels and energy efficiency have over-shadowed policies aimed at REHC technology deployment. This paper, based on the findings of the International Energy Agency publication Renewables for Heating and Cooling—Untapped Potential, outlines the present and future markets and compares the costs of providing heating and cooling services from solar, geothermal and biomass resources. It analyses current policies and experiences and makes recommendations to support enhanced market deployment of REHC technologies to provide greater energy supply security and climate change mitigation. If policies as successfully implemented by the leading countries were to be replicated elsewhere (possibly after modification to better suit local conditions), there would be good potential to significantly increase the share of renewable energy in providing heating and cooling services.     

Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies

Before new technologies enter the market, their environmental superiority over competing options must be asserted based on a life cycle approach. However, when applying the prevailing status-quo Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach to future renewable energy systems, one does not distinguish between impacts which are ‘imported’ into the system due to the ‘background system’ (e.g. due to supply of materials or final energy for the production of the energy system), and what is the improvement potential of these technologies compared to competitors (e.g. due to process and system innovations or diffusion effects). This paper investigates a dynamic approach towards the LCA of renewable energy technologies and proves that for all renewable energy chains, the inputs of finite energy resources and emissions of greenhouse gases are extremely low compared with the conventional system. With regard to the other environmental impacts the findings do not reveal any clear verdict for or against renewable energies.Future development will enable a further reduction of environmental impacts of renewable energy systems. Different factors are responsible for this development, such as progress with respect to technical parameters of energy converters, in particular, improved efficiency; emissions characteristics; increased lifetime, etc.; advances with regard to the production process of energy converters and fuels; and advances with regard to ‘external’ services originating from conventional energy and transport systems, for instance, improved electricity or process heat supply for system production and ecologically optimized transport systems for fuel transportation.The application of renewable energy sources might modify not only the background system, but also further downstream aspects, such as consumer behavior. This effect is, however, strongly context and technology dependent.     

Importance of biomass energy as alternative to other sources in Turkey

Energy plays a vital role in socio–economic development and raising standards of human beings. Turkey is a rapidly growing country; both its population and economy are expanding each year so its energy demand increases correspondingly and this increasing demand has to be met for keeping sustainable development in the economy and raising living conditions of mankind. Although Turkey has many energy sources, it is a big energy importer. Turkey has a lot of potential to supply its own energy, which could be put to use in order to avoid this energy dependence. Additionally, Turkey is a country that has an abundance of renewable energy sources and can essentially provide all energy requirements from indigenous energy sources. Biomass is one of the most promising energy sources considered to be alternative to conventional ones.     

Renewable energy strategies for sustainable development

This paper discusses the perspective of renewable energy (wind, solar, wave and biomass) in the making of strategies for a sustainable development. Such strategies typically involve three major technological changes: energy savings on the demand side, efficiency improvements in the energy production, and replacement of fossil fuels by various sources of renewable energy. Consequently, large-scale renewable energy implementation plans must include strategies for integrating renewable sources in coherent energy systems influenced by energy savings and efficiency measures. Based on the case of Denmark, this paper discusses the problems and perspectives of converting present energy systems into a 100% renewable energy system. The conclusion is that such development is possible. The necessary renewable energy sources are present, and if further technological improvements of the energy system are achieved the renewable energy system can be created. Especially technologies of converting the transportation sector and the introduction of flexible energy system technologies are crucial.     

Utilization of renewable energies in Turkey's agriculture

Agriculture is still the occupation of the majority of Turkish people, despite the share of industry and services rising constantly. In terms of agricultural lands, Turkey is also one of the largest countries in the world. Fruits and field crops make up for the most of vegetable products, wheat being the leading crop. Turkey has a high trade surplus with the EU-27 (1.5 billion Euros in 2009) mainly due to exports of edible fruits and nuts, preparations of fruit and vegetables.The aim of this study is to investigate the utility of renewable energies for agricultural activities. In this concept, solar energy, biomass energy, wind energy, geothermal energy and hydropower are discussed by application examples performed in Turkey. In conclusion, proposals and recommendations are given as alternative energy instead of fossil energy sources.     

The status and prospects of renewable energy for combating global warming

Reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in material quantities, globally, is a critical element in limiting the impacts of global warming. GHG emissions associated with energy extraction and use are a major component of any strategy addressing climate change mitigation. Non-emitting options for electrical power and liquid transportation fuels are increasingly considered key components of an energy system with lower overall environmental impacts. Renewable energy technologies (RETs) as well as biofuels technologies have been accelerating rapidly during the past decades, both in technology performance and cost-competitiveness — and they are increasingly gaining market share. These technology options offer many positive attributes, but also have unique cost/benefit trade-offs, such as land-use competition for bioresources and variability for wind and solar electric generation technologies. This paper presents a brief summary of status, recent progress, some technological highlights for RETs and biofuels, and an analysis of critical issues that must be addressed for RETs to meet a greater share of the global energy requirements and lower GHG emissions.     

A review on energy scenario and sustainable energy in Indonesia

The global energy consumption is likely to grow faster than the population growth. The fuel consumption was growing from 6630 million tons of oil equivalents (Mtoe) in 1980 to 11,163 Mtoe in 2009. This projected consumption will increase 1.5% per year until 2030 and reach 16,900 Mtoe and the main drivers of this growth are mostly developing countries in Asia. Indonesia is one of the developing countries and energy supply is an important factor for all-around development. The country's energy consumption still depends on non-renewable energy such as crude oil, coal and natural gas as sources of energy. Utilization of fossil fuel continuously contributes to huge amount of greenhouse gases emission that leads to climate change. Facing such an unfavorable situation, the government of Indonesia prioritizes on energy supply securities by diversification of energy resources. The energy mixes in Indonesia based on five main resources; these are crude oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, and renewable energy. Although the country encourages utilizing renewable energy, the contribution is only around 3%. Considering natural condition and geography, this country is blessed with great potential of renewable energy such as solar energy, wind energy, micro hydro and biomass energy. Noting the potential of renewable and sustainable energy resources in the country, the government must pay more attention on how to utilize it. Many efforts have been done to promote renewable energy such as to create energy policy and regulations, yet it still did not give any satisfactory result. Government, non-government agencies and the public should take a more proactive step to promote and use renewable energy in order to achieve the secure and environmentally sustainable energy resources.     

An econometric analysis of residential expenditures on energy conservation and renewable energy sources

Economic theory suggests that residential expenditures on energy conservation and renewable energy sources will be determined by the ability of households to purchase conservation inputs, their incentive to invest in conserving energy, the energy efficiency of existing homes and miscellaneous factors such as climate and age of the home-owner. Empirical analyses of energy-related expenditures reported on individual income tax returns confirm the importance of household income, energy price increases and climate conditions in determining energy conservation investments. Income tax credits are also found to have stimulated residential spending on conservation and renewable energy.     

Renewable energy in Oman: Status and future prospects

This paper attempts to review and discuss the status and future prospects of renewable energy in Oman. Renewable energy sources like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and biomass have been revised. The electricity shortages and the challenges to overcome the increase in electrical demands for the near future have been discussed. The investigations found that solar, shore-wind and geothermal could play an important role in the future of renewable energy in country. Also, it is found that there is need to investigate the potential of offshore-wind, biomass, and hydro (tide, wave and ocean thermal energy). The appearance and weight of renewable energy in the higher education programs and the Oman commitment toward renewable energy have been discussed. The paper finishes with some conclusions and recommendations.