Development of energy efficiency and management implementation in the Turkish industrial sector

The importance of energy efficiency was first realized following the two oil crises of the 1970s. The world has trimmed its energy budget by utilizing higher efficiencies, while still growing economically, and has realized the importance of protecting the environment. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the development of industrial energy efficiency and management studies in Turkey up until August 2001. In Turkey, the demand for energy efficiency started in the 1980s. Planned energy conservation activities were first implemented in 1981 by the General Directorate of Electrical Power Resources Survey Administration (called EIE in Turkey). Since 1981, EIE has been conducting these activities. In the beginning of the year 1993, the National Energy Conservation Center (NECC) was established within the body of EIE. EIE/NECC investigated the nationwide potential for energy conservation. The study concluded that the Turkish industrial sector has an annual energy saving potential of approximately 30%. After this study, a regulation on industrial energy efficiency was issued in 1995, followed by two announcements related to designing energy management courses and performing energy audits in 1996 and 1998, respectively. By means of these regulations, the Turkish industrial sector has significantly accelerated efforts in implementing energy efficiency and management studies in the country. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.