Renewable and sustainable energy policies in Turkey after the Paris Agreement: economic and environmental analysis

Abstract

The Paris Agreement established the international climate policy objectives to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C and above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. It achieve a balance between anthropogenic emission by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century. Turkey is an energy importing country with more than half of the energy requirement supplied by imports. Turkey should change its energy policy simply optimize energy consumption by supporting energy efficiency, give up on supporting environmentally hazardous energy generation such as nuclear, coal, or shale gas, and aim for 100% renewable energy. This will help relieve the economy by reducing energy importation, protect the environment by reducing carbon emissions, and provide energy independence is a national security matter. Turkey’s total gross renewable energy potential is about 650 billion kWh annually while the economical potential was about 340 billion kWh/yr. Residential and commercial buildings consume a considerable amount of the energy produced in Turkey. A reduction to 25% to 50% of energy consumption is possible with only proper insulation of these buildings. In this context, buildings are efficiently designed and configured will provide energy savings. Energy efficiency in buildings in Turkey has gained prominence recently.