Numerical Analysis of Worldwide CO2 Emissions and Effects on Atmospheric Warming in Turkey

Abstract

Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, oil), which are the raw materials for energy, play an effective and determining role in energy planning, the development of countries, and then sustainability of them. When the global and regional geographies are evaluated from the geo-strategic and geo-political point of view, it is clearly seen that among all fossil fuels, coal is distributed more "equally" in ratio than oil and natural gas reserves and that it is gradually gaining importance for the countries that do not have energy resources or that have limited ones or have resources on the verge of exhaustion. When the latest innovations in environmentally-friendly technologies in the field of burning-storing CO2 emission in thermal power plants besides the principle of "sustainable development" are also added to this situation, it is an undeniable fact that the coal will continue to be a significant primary energy resource in the future, though to a limited extent, both in Turkey and around the world. In this study, in order to be able to detect numerically the impact of CO2 resulting from the fossil fuel consumption on global warming and the process of climate change; a numerical evaluation on a global scale has been given by associating the "total primary energy supply"-"CO2 emission" of the total 136 countries in 2005 together with such basic indicators as "total primary energy supply/capita"-"ton CO2/capita." The potential CO2 emission for the year 2030 has been estimated. Moreover, with the aim of keeping the integrity of the subject studied, the distribution of the thermal power plants working with fossil fuels among geographical regions in Turkey and the relationship between the existence of forests in these regions and average annual increase in temperature (Delta T) between the periods of 1975-1992 and 1993-2006 have also been examined according to the data from a total of 133 macro-climatic meteorological stations within the scope of this study.