Onur Unlu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Energy Efficiency and Management Association (EYODER), stated that investments in energy efficiency should be increased and said, “I believe that 2024 will be a successful year in terms of energy efficiency.”
Unlu told the AA correspondent on the occasion of December 14 Energy Saving Day that awareness in this field is increasing as the state enters a serious change process regarding energy saving and efficiency in Turkiye.
Pointing out that Turkiye has a target of 100 million tons of emission reduction by 2030, Unlu stated that energy efficiency practices and supports for this field will increase in all sectors.
Noting that the resources coming from international financial institutions are focused on green transformation, Unlu said, “If an output in favor of green transformation is presented to international financial resources, the loan conditions here may expand further and their conditions may improve. We believe that this will have a significant impact in terms of energy efficiency.”
Stating that energy efficiency investments worldwide reached $600 billion last year, Unlu said, “Let’s assume that Turkiye has a 1% share in total in a $600 billion market. The $1.9 billion expenditure in this field should increase approximately 3 times to $6 billion. This is the figure stated by official authorities. 2024 should be the year of ‘energy efficiency’ for Turkiye.”
Energy can be used more efficiently
Unlu stated that while the average total energy consumption reduction in the world was 1% in the last 10 years, Turkiye achieved a value above the average with 1.5%. “While this rate will double to 2.2% all over the world in 2022, Turkiye has become the leading country in this field with a reduction of 2.7%.”
Unlu stated that the reason for this increase is the measures to combat climate change, as well as the rising energy prices due to the Russia-Ukraine crisis. He said that the 2.2% reduction rate achieved was not sufficient, and that the said value should reach 4% annually, according to the scenarios developed to combat international climate change.
Unlu stated that the rate in question should be around 6% in Turkiye and said:
“I believe that 2024 will be a successful year in terms of energy efficiency. Our country’s setting of aggressive targets in the field of energy efficiency in the fight against climate change and the expectations that international financial institutions will finance the investments to be made in line with these targets also point to this. As EYODER, we will continue to work to make our country energy efficient and to be a bridge between the public, private sector, academia and civil society.”
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz