**6. Conclusion**

There is an intimate connection between energy, the environment and sustainable development. A society seeking sustainable development ideally must utilize only energy resources which cause no environmental impact. Clearly, a strong relation exists between energy efficiency and environmental impact since, for the same services or products, less resource utilization and pollution is normally associated with increased energy efficiency.

Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable energy sources are most often regarded as including all renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal energy, bio-energy, and tidal power. It usually also includes technologies that improve energy efficiency.

Renewable energy technologies are essential contributors to sustainable energy as they generally contribute to world energy security, reducing dependence on fossil fuel resources and providing opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases. As such, sustainable energy promotes sustainability. Sustainability, here, is twofold, as it constitutes self-sustenance and the ability to foster sustainable development.

By being self-sustaining the energy source is in essence limitless. Solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydropower and biomass are all self-sustaining. They all have sources that cannot be depleted. These energy sources allow for the conservation of other energy sources, like trees that would have been used for charcoal production. Using these "renewable" energies also encourages the protection of the environment which traditional energy sources have helped to destroy. The use of some traditional energy sources, like oil and charcoal, the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) reported "carries with it a number of environmental problems, such as water and air pollution and the contamination of soils." Utilizing sustainable energy would then lead to the conservation of the environment which would eventually lead to a development which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In other words, sustainable energy use leads to sustainable development.

### **7. References**

58 Sustainable Growth and Applications in Renewable Energy Sources

Environmental sustainability is the process of making sure current processes of interaction with the environment are pursued with the idea of keeping the environment as pristine as

Environmental

Environmental

An "unsustainable situation" occurs when natural capital (the sum total of nature's resources) is used up faster than it can be replenished. Sustainability requires that human activity only uses nature's resources at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally (Barbier, 2007). Inherently the concept of sustainable development is intertwined with the concept of carrying capacity. Theoretically, the long-term result of environmental degradation is the inability to sustain human life. Such degradation on a global scale could

There is an intimate connection between energy, the environment and sustainable development. A society seeking sustainable development ideally must utilize only energy resources which cause no environmental impact. Clearly, a strong relation exists between energy efficiency and environmental impact since, for the same services or products, less resource utilization and pollution is normally associated with increased energy efficiency. Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable energy sources are most often regarded as including all renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal energy, bio-energy,

and tidal power. It usually also includes technologies that improve energy efficiency.

Renewable energy technologies are essential contributors to sustainable energy as they generally contribute to world energy security, reducing dependence on fossil fuel resources and providing opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases. As such, sustainable energy promotes sustainability. Sustainability, here, is twofold, as it constitutes self-sustenance and

By being self-sustaining the energy source is in essence limitless. Solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydropower and biomass are all self-sustaining. They all have sources that cannot be depleted. These energy sources allow for the conservation of other energy sources, like trees that would have been used for charcoal production. Using these "renewable" energies also encourages the protection of the environment which traditional energy sources have helped to destroy. The use of some traditional energy sources, like oil and charcoal, the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) reported "carries with

replenish Environmental renewal Environmentally

**resources State of environment Sustainability** 

degradation Not sustainable

equilibrium Steady state economy

sustainable

naturally possible based on ideal-seeking behavior.

**Consumption of renewable** 

More than nature's ability to

Equal to nature's ability to

Less than nature's ability to

imply extinction for humanity.

the ability to foster sustainable development.

**6. Conclusion** 

replenish

replenish


**4** 

*Turkey* 

Ali Osman Ylmaz

**Renewable Energy and Coal Use in Turkey** 

*Karadeniz Technical University/Department of Mining Engineering, Trabzon* 

The development level of a country is directly related to its economical and social level. One of the most important factors that takes an active role in achieving such development level is energy. Energy, which is the requirement of sustainable development, can only be an impulsive force in industrialization and overall development of societies if it is supplied on time, with sufficient quantity and under reliable economical conditions and considering the environmental impacts. The demand for energy increases rapidly in parallel with the population increase, industrialization and technological developments in Turkey and the

Turkey has been developing since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Turkish Government played a leading role in energy production and in energy use, as well as in other fields, and implemented several policies to increase electricity production. By 1950s, thermal power plants were used commonly in electricity production. In the following years, hydroelectric power plants were put into operation in order to use the considerable amount of water resources of the country. Coal-fired power plants using national resources accounted for 70–80% of the thermal electricity production. After 1960s, oil, an imported resource, was replaced with national resources due to two petroleum crises. Therefore, the proportion of use of lignite in the energy field increased. By 1980s, energy production lead by the government went on. Afterwards, applications of liberal economy policies resulted in implementation of different energy production methods, and the country had a increasing tendency to meet energy demand by imports as a result of improvement in international economic relations. Natural gas became prevalent in the country as well as all over the world and accounted for 50% of the electricity production

On the eve of 21st century, Turkey was unable to meet its energy requirement with its limited sources as a result of the increasing population and industrialization and thus the deficit between the energy production and energy consumption increased rapidly. Under such conditions, utilizing own resources more effectively had become more important increasingly day by day. Turkey became more dependent on imports year to year. It still supplies about 71% of its primary energy consumption from imported energy sources. This percentage is 59% for electricity production. It is now vital for Turkey to attach importance to coal and renewable energy sources, which are the largest domestic energy sources of Turkey, in order to meet this increasing energy deficit. Especially, it is possible to produce

**1. Introduction** 

in 2009 (Fig 1, Table 1).

electricity using the said domestic sources.

other developing countries in the world.

