Clean 2007, 35 (6), 539 – 547 K. Kaygusuz 539 Kamil Kaygusuz 1 1 Department of Chemistry, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey. Review Energy Use and Air Pollution Issues in Turkey Turkey's demand for energy and electricity is increasing rapidly and heavily depend- ent on expensive imported energy resources that place a big burden on the economy. As would be expected, the rapid expansion of energy production and consumption has brought with it a wide range of environmental issues at local, regional and global levels. Air pollution, for example, is becoming a great environmental concern in the country. With respect to global environmental issues, Turkey's carbon dioxide emis- sions have grown along with its energy consumption. States have played a leading role in protecting the environment by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). 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 Tur- key. Turkey's geographical location has several advantages for extensive use of most of these renewable energy sources. This article presents a review of the sustainable energy policies, potential and utilization of the renewable energy sources in Turkey. Keywords: Energy utilization; Renewable energy; Sustainable development; Turkey; Received: September 18, 2007; revised: October 29, 2007; accepted: October 31, 2007 DOI: 10.1002/clen.200700138 1 Introduction Energy is essential to economic and social development and improved quality of life in all countries. Much of the world's energy, however, is currently produced and consumed in ways that could not be sustained if technology were to remain constant and if over- all quantities were to increase substantially. The need to control atmospheric emissions of greenhouse and other gases and substan- ces will increasingly need to be based on efficiency in energy pro- duction, transmission, distribution and consumption in the coun- try. Electricity supply infrastructures in many developing countries are being rapidly expanded as policymakers and investors around the world increasingly recognize electricity's pivotal role in improv- ing living standards and sustaining economic growth [1]. There is a growing concern that long-run sustainable develop- ment may be compromised unless measures are taken to achieve balance between economic, environmental and social outcomes. Since the early 1980s, Turkish energy policy has concentrated on market liberalization in an effort to stimulate investment in response to increasing internal energy demand. Turkey's new gov- ernment has continued this policy despite lower energy demand induced by the 2001 economic crisis. This paper provides an over- view of energy use and air pollution issues for Turkey. 2 Energy Utilization in Turkey Turkey is an energy importing country; more than half of the energy requirement has been supplied by imports. Oil has the big- gest share in total primary energy consumption [2, 3]. Due to the diversification efforts of energy sources, use of natural gas that was newly introduced into Turkish economy, has been growing rapidly [4]. Turkey has large reserves of coal, particularly of lignite. The pro- ven lignite reserves are 8.0 billion tons (see Tab. 1). The estimated total possible reserves are 30 billion tons [4, 5]. Turkey, with its young population and growing energy demand per person, its fast growing urbanization, and its economic development, has been one of the fast growing power markets of the world for the last two deca- des (see Figs. 1 and 2). It is expected that the demand for electric Correspondence: Prof. K. Kaygusuz, Department of Chemistry, Karade- niz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey. E-mail: kakaygusuz@hotmail.com Abbreviations: GHG, greenhouse gas i 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim www.clean-journal.com Table 1. Primary energy reserves in Turkey (2002). Energy sources Proven Probable Possible Total Hard coal (Million ton) 428 456 245 1 129 Lignite (Million ton) Elbistan 3 357 3 357 Others 3 982 626 110 4 718 Total 7 339 626 110 8 075 Asphaltite 45 29 8 82 Bitumes 555 1 086 1 641 Hydropower GWh/yr 126 109 126 109 MW/yr 35 539 35 539 Petroleum (Million ton) 39 39 Natural gas (Billion m 3 ) 10.2 10.2 Nuclear sources (ton) Uranium 9 129 9 129 Thorium 380 000 380 000 Geothermal (MW/yr) Electricity 200 4 300 4 500 Thermal 2 250 28 850 31 100 Solar energy Electricity 8.8 Heat 26.4 Source: Ref. [4]