SUGGESTIONS FOR INCREASING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN EXISTING BUILDING, TURKEY EXAMPLE

Abstract

As is the case around the world, Turkey has experienced a rise in energy related Carbon dioxide (C02) emissions during the recent 20 year period. According to data from British Petroleum (BP)s annual World Energy Report, global energy consumption rose by 2,4% during 2007. According to the said report, an increase of 7,7 % on energy consumption has been registered in China, when compared with a decrease of 2,2% in Europe. In Turkey, where the energy consumption accounts for 0,9% of the energy consumed globally, the consumption of the petroleum has been set as 31,1 megaton within last year with an increase of 1, 5%. And thus, the energy consumption in this year has beet? increased by 5% when compared with year 2006 Assessing on these figures, Turkey is considered to be accounting for 0, 8 % of the petroleum consumed globally. Approximately 70% of the total energy consumed in Turkey is imported and this portion is increasing. According to the World Energy Report, Turkey's energy import is expected to be rising to 73% in the year 2010 and to 78% in 2020. Energy is used during every stage of the building life-cycle. According to Worldwatch Institute (WWE) data, building activities account for 40% of the energy consumed globally each year. In Turkey, energy consumption in buildings is considerably higher than the European Union (EU) average and energy use in the residential/service sector grew by an average of 2.7% annually between 1990 and 2000, reaching 34.5% in 2001. Furthermore, this energy is largely derived from fossil fuels, which causes a great deal of environmental damage and imposes significant liability upon the construction sector. There are no legal arrangements for energy save in existing buildings. Therefore, even if energy efficiency precautions for future constructions are taken, these problems will continue for the existing buildings. On the other hand, solutions for increasing energy efficiency can also be produced in the existing buildings. For producing these solutions, factors that increase the energy consumption should be well known. The aim of this study is to discuss proper solutions to increase energy efficiency in buildings considering the problems in Turkey. In Turkey, high energy load for heating and cooling comes in the first place in the factors which increase the energy consumption. Reasons like lack of enough insulation on the building shell, usage of building structures with improper thermal properties, not considering heat loss and gain through the windows increases the heat loss and this causes the energy consumption to increase. The solar energy is not benefited enough even the geographical location is proper for this. Another reason for increase in energy consumption is not considering the climatic data while designing the buildings. In this article, precautions for these problems and solutions to increase the energy efficiency will also be noted.