Majority of the energy use in buildings is for heating space, domestic water and cooking. Today more than 70% of all energy is used for these purposes in Turkey. Similarly a share of up to 60% of all energy is used for process heating in the manufacturing industry as hot water, steam or direct heat. There is a large untapped potential to reduce this energy demand and diversity its supply by using more renewable energy sources. Today, buildings and industry represent together more than three-quarters of Turkey’s total final energy consumption.
Turkey is currently experiencing a rapid urbanisation rate of 2% per year on average. This results in new buildings to be added to the stock. The current floor area of the residential building stock of 2.4 billion m2 is expected to reach 4 billion m2 by 2050. This creates significant opportunities to implement energy efficiency measures and integrate renewable energy technologies.
Turkey employs a significant capacity of heavy manufacturing industries that produce bulk materials like steel and cement. 32 plants across Turkey produce various types of iron and steel products making Turkey the 8th largest producer and 10th largest exporter worldwide. As the world’s fourth largest producer, Turkey produces nearly 80 million tonnes of cement each year from around 70 plants. Numerous food, beverage, textile and machinery and equipment manufacturing plants also operate in Turkey. Top strategy for the sector is to utilise the opportunities offered by retrofits and best practice energy efficiency technologies to reduce the rapidly growing demand as Turkey becomes a more industrialised nation.