Renewable and sustainable energy use in Turkey: a review

Turkey is an energy importing nation with more than half of our energy requirements met by imported fuels. Air pollution is becoming a significant environmental concern in the country. In this regard, renewable energy resources are becoming attractive for sustainable energy development and environmental pollution mitigation in Turkey. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Because of this and our limited fossil fuel resources, a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewables seems to be a serious alternative for Turkey's energy future. This article presents a review of the present energy situation and assesses sustainability, technical, and economical potential of renewable energy sources, and future policies for the energy sector in Turkey. Throughout the paper, problems relating to renewable energy sources, environment, and sustainable development are discussed for both current and future energy investments. The renewable energy potential of the country and its present status are evaluated.     

Renewable energy education in Turkey

Utilization of renewable energy sources and the application of environmentally sound energy technologies are essential to sustainable development and will help to secure the quality of living and the well-being of the future generations. Turkey presently has considerable renewable energy sources. The most important renewable sources are hydropower, wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. The use of renewable energy as a topic to study energy and its forms permits a novel way to motivate students, particularly those who energy topics taking conscience with the environment. This paper presents the analysis and classification of renewable energy sources and how to find out their origin and a way to motivate students in energy topics related to renewable sources and also, the development of didactic competencies in special blended learning arrangements for educationalists, trainers and lecturers in adult education in the field of renewable energies in Turkey.     

Renewable energy and sustainable development in Turkey

Achieving solutions to environmental problems that we face today requires long-term potential actions for sustainable development. In this regard, renewable energy resources appear to be the one of the most efficient and effective solutions. So clean, domestic and renewable energy is commonly accepted as the key for future life for Turkey. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Because of this and the fact that it has limited fossil fuel resources, a gradual shift from fossil fuels to renewables seems to be serious and the sole alternative for Turkey. This article presents a review of the present energy situation and sustainability, technical and economical potential of renewable energy sources and future policies for the energy sector in Turkey. Also, potential solutions to current environmental problems are identified along with renewable energy technologies. Throughout the paper several problems relating to renewable energy sources, environment and sustainable development are discussed from both current and future perspectives. The renewable energy potential of the country and their present use are evaluated here based on the available data. The present study shows that there is an important potential for renewables in Turkey.     

Renewable energy market conditions and barriers in Turkey

Decentralized wind, hydropower, biogas and biomass, geothermal, solar thermal and solar electricity energy systems are the most commonly found renewable energy technologies promoted for rural energy supply within sustainable developments programs. They are, therefore, seen to have a central place in the practice of sustainable development and in allowing less development countries to bypass the environmentally damaging fossil fuel intensive paths made by industrialized countries. On the political front, many less development countries are critical of pressure on them to adopt environmental energy technologies.Turkey is situated the meeting point of three continents (Asia, Europe and Africa) and stands as a bridge between Asia and Europe. The country is located in southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. As Turkey’s economy has expanded in recent years, the consumption of primary energy has increased. Presently in order to increase the energy production from domestic energy resources, decrease the use of fossil fuels as well as reduce of green house gas emissions different renewable energy sources are used for energy production in Turkey. The share of energy production from renewable energy sources has increased during the last 10 years. Turkey must import most of the energy to meet her needs. Turkey also has a large potential for renewable energies. The lack of knowledge about renewable energy technologies by most policy-makers, potential consumers, and energy firm managers has played against renewable energy developments. The paper presents renewable energy used in Turkey and Europe Union and evaluation of the market conditions and barriers of renewable energy use in Turkey.     

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.     

Renewable energy sources in Turkey for climate change mitigation and energy sustainability

In Turkey, there is a much more potential for renewables, but represent about 37% of total energy production and 10% of total energy consumption. This share is not enough for the country and the governments should be increase to this situation. Renewable energy technologies of wind, biomass, hydropower, geothermal, solar thermal and photovoltaics are finally showing maturity and the ultimate promise of cost competitiveness. With respect to global environmental issues, Turkey's carbon dioxide emissions have grown along with its energy consumption. States have played a leading role in protecting the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. In this regard, renewable energy resources appear to be the one of the most efficient and effective solutions for clean and sustainable energy development in Turkey. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. Certain policy interventions could have a dramatic impact on shaping the relationship between geological, geographic and climatic conditions and energy production. This study shows that there is enough renewable energy potential in Turkey for fuels and electricity. Especially hydropower and biomass are very well.     

Renewable energy policy in Turkey with the new legal regulations

Since the energy crises in the 1970’s, public and private decision makers are considering how to achieve a sustainable transition from fossil fuel based energy to sustainable and clean energies - namely renewable energies. Combined with the improvement of energy efficiency and the rational use of energy, renewable energy can provide everything fossil fuels currently offer in terms of heating and cooling, electricity generation and transportation. Renewable energy technologies posses many long term benefits including energy security, job creation, business opportunities, sustainable development and prevention of global warming.Turkey’s population is growing at an annual rate of 1.04%. If Turkey uses only traditional energy sources, it simply will not have enough energy capacity for its population. Renewable energy sources have the potential to make a large contribution to Turkey’s sustainable and independent energy future.Turkey aims to utilize its energy potential, including from renewable sources in a cost-effective manner. Turkey targets the share of renewable resources in electricity generation to be at least 30% by 2023 has in its 2009 Electricity Market and Security of Supply Strategy. Positive achievements have been obtained in renewable energy development and manufacturing in Turkey over the past decade. The renewable energy related legislation has been intensified. To meet its 30% target, the current promotion mechanism for renewable sources of electricity relies on feed-in tariffs for different renewable energy sources. Large hydropower is already competitive to conventional fossil-based electricity, so feed-in tariffs in the new RE Law are set to facilitate expanding the deployment of other, less mature renewable energy technologies.     

Renewable energy use in Lebanon: Barriers and solutions

The ability to discover and utilize a reliable source of renewable energy is vital in order to reduce the effects of global warming and to decrease and/or eliminate reliance on fossil fuel. Recently, countries around the world have been recognizing the immediate need to tackle the current energy problems. While the developed countries have been investing in renewable energy for the past two decades, developing nations now realize the importance of adopting such energy sourcing strategies [1]. It has long been understood and it is very well-known that energy is the driving force behind economic and social development of a state and its population. The following paper presents an overview of the current renewable energy status in Lebanon. It focuses on barriers hindering improvements and proposes pertinent solutions.     

可再生能源在各地

南京:开发商不得阻挠住户装太阳能2006年7月8日,南京市建委、经委、房产局等七部门发布《进一步规范居民住宅安装太阳能集热器的通知》,明确要求开发商不得阻挠住户装太阳能热水器,并要为利用太阳能热水器“提供必备条件”。     

可再生能源房屋

简述了可再生能源房屋的概念、研究和开发可再生能源房屋的重大意义，介绍了可再生能源房屋构造的设计方案及“零能耗调温”的工作原理及其特点，给出了初步试验的结果。     

Renewable energy and employment in Germany

The positive impacts of an increasing share of renewable energy on the mitigation of climate change as well as on the decrease of the dependency of energy imports are indisputable. However, one persistent problem for the German economy has been its high level of unemployment in the recent past. Therefore, any policy strategy will be measured also by its net impact on the labor market. The paper describes the results of a study that models this impact and is novel within three respects: firstly, an Input–Output-Vector for the renewable energy sector was developed based on the results of more than 1000 interviews with an extensive questionnaire, secondly gross and net effect of two different policy scenarios for Germany until 2030 were calculated and thirdly the approach varies from earlier studies by its explicit modeling of export and foreign trade effects.     

Renewable energy utilization in Iran

At present, due to the adoption of stringent environmental laws and also because of the energy crisis, countries (especially industrial ones) are taking the development of renewable energies more seriously. Iran is one of the largest producers and exporters of petroleum and natural gas in the world. Because of this, development of renewable energies did not attract considerable attention during the past decades. The present research intends to study renewable energy utilization in Iran and provide readers with complete information on the development trend of renewable energies and the problems and limitations faced for their development. Other methods of electricity generation such as the use of nuclear energy also developed considerably in the past, but their features will not be discussed here because they are not considered renewable energies.     

Renewable energy resources in Syria

Renewable energy resources in the Syrian Arab Republic are surveyed. Potential of solar, wind and bio-mass resources and their promising applications are analyzed. The annual average long-term solar radiation on a horizontal plane is measured and found to be 5.2 kWh/m² per day. Wind speed measurements were conducted in more than twenty stations spread all over the country. The prospects of these measurements indicate that wind is another promising source of renewable energy in Syria. The registered annual mean daily wind speed in some regions of the country reaches more than 13 m/sec. Theoretical study estimates that the bio-gas production of the daily wastes of humans, animals and agriculture is higher than 300 million cubic meters per year.     

Renewable corn-ethanol and energy security

Though corn-ethanol is promoted as renewable, models of the production process assume fossil fuel inputs. Moreover, ethanol is promoted as a means of increasing energy security, but there is little discussion of the dependability of its supply. This study investigates the sensibility of promoting corn-ethanol as an automobile fuel, assuming a fully renewable production process. We then use historical data to estimate the supply risk of ethanol relative to imported petroleum. We find that devoting 100% of US corn to ethanol would displace 3.5% of gasoline consumption and the annual supply of the ethanol would be inherently more risky than that of imported oil. Finally, because large temperature increases can simultaneously increase fuel demand and the cost of growing corn, the supply responses of ethanol producers to temperature-induced demand shocks would likely be weaker than those of gasoline producers.     

The role of coal in energy production—Consumption and sustainable development of Turkey

Energy is one of the indispensable factors regarding the assurance of social prosperity and economic development of a country. The developing countries struggle to obtain energy sources reliable in the long term to complete their economic development, and the developed countries struggle to get them to keep their present prosperity levels. Coal seems to continue its indispensable position among the other energy sources for many years because of its production in more than 50 countries, the least effect it has from the price fluctuation and its usage lifespan of more than 200 years. The countries that are aware of it have investments in mining fields in the countries rich in coal reserves, and they continue investing considerable amount of money.     

Renewable energy storage system via coal hydrogasification with co-production of electricity and synthetic natural gas

In this paper a novel integrated plant, designed for the co-production of electricity and synthetic natural gas (SNG), has been proposed as suitable strategy for renewable energy storage and CO₂ emission control.     

Communications on energy Industrial coal use in the Netherlands

The results of a study to analyse the potential penetration of coal in the Dutch industrial sector are presented. It is concluded that coal will play a modest role both as a fuel and as a chemical feedstock. Coal input could be substantially higher if the coal is gasified first, after which the gas can be used as fuel and gas and synthesis gas. The environmental impacts of the use of coal and the proposed emission standards are described.     

Renewable energy programme and vision in India

In the present world, renewable sources of energy have begun to make a significant contribution to meeting heat and power needs. In India, the Government is implementing a wide ranging programmes on renewable energy technologies. Several policy and fiscal measures have contributed to the rapid expansion of the progress during the last few years. This paper presents a review of renewable energy programme and vision in India. The present situation is seen to be much more promising and favourable for renewables.