3.1. Transportation
Sakarya Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory 2019 indicated that transportation sector is responsible for 27.5% of total emissions of the city with an energy consumption record 4,867,923 MWh. Growth rates of greenhouse gas emissions by transportation units were recorded 1% by municipal diesel fuelled vehicle fleet, 2% by municipal electric vehicle fleet, 3% public transport diesel fuelled vehicle fleet, 3% public transport electric vehicle fleet, 1.5% private diesel fuelled vehicles, 1% private diesel fuelled logistical vehicles, 1% private gasoline powered vehicles and 1% private LPG vehicles (Figure 1). Although diesel fuel demand of the city decreased from 2017 to 2019, transportation shares, 1,5 million tCO2eq, are still the second in total emissions in parallel with the growth rates of urbanization and industry. SMM aims to decrease transportation-based emissions to 369,288 tCO2eq by 2030 within Covenant of Mayors.
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources announced the urgent transportation sector actions as follows (Turkish Republic Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2017-2023):
- energy efficient vehicle incentives: low taxation for low emission vehicles, raising social awareness for electric and hybrid vehicles
- comparative analysis of alternative fuel resources and new technologies
- improving pedestrian and bike transport: building new pedestrian and bike paths integrated with public transport nationwide.
- reducing traffic congestion in cities: measures to deter entry into city centers, parking lot cautions, dissemination of smart transportation system applications
- expanding public transportation
This paper proposes urgent local transport action plans for Sakarya city in Table 2 on the basis of SWOT analysis results in Table 1.
Main transport plan of Sakarya city was put into practice in 2011. The city has experienced rapid growth in urbanization, industry and traffic density since then. Therefore, it is urgent to put Action Plan 1 in place in parallel with zoning plans of the city. The owner and implementer of this plan is SMM and the key for the success here is to increase the number of experienced staff in the field.
Public transportation utilization rate of Sakarya city was recorded 9% in 2019. The target of Action Plan 2 is to increase this rate to a minimum record 35% by 2024. The priority actions within this plan is to optimize public transportation routes, establish new public transport lines for urban transformation areas, increase the number of public buses, transfer new technologies and build a rail system. The number of private transportation vehicles in the city are more than the number of public transportation vehicles-1050 private buses, 632 private minibuses and 362 taxis (Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality. Strategic Plan 2020-2024). The very low public utilization rate, 9%, indicates that local people mostly prefer private transportation vehicles. The results of the workshop indicate that private transportation vehicles provide time savings in comparison with public transport modes. Action Plan 2 proposes to improve public transportation with new public transit modes and reduce at least 50 MtCO2eq of transportation-based emissions.
Table 2. Transportation Sector Action Plans for Sakarya City
Action Plan 1
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reviewing main transport plan and revising public transport plan
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Action Plan 2
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increasing public transport utilization rate
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Action Plan 3
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replacing public transport with energy efficient vehicles
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Action Plan 4
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initiating fast-charging station infrastructure studies
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Action Plan 5
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increasing bike transport shares
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Action Plan 6
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increasing pedestrian transport
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Action Plan 7
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developing low carbon vehicle sharing systems
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Action Plan 8
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providing economic driving techniques trainings
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Action Plan 9
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organizing social activities to increase social awareness
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Public transportation utilization rate of Sakarya city was recorded 9% in 2019. The target of Action Plan 2 is to increase this rate to a minimum record 35% by 2024. The priority actions within this plan is to optimize public transportation routes, establish new public transport lines for urban transformation areas, increase the number of public buses, transfer new technologies and build a rail system. The number of private transportation vehicles in the city are more than the number of public transportation vehicles-1050 private buses, 632 private minibuses and 362 taxis (Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality. Strategic Plan 2020-2024). The very low public utilization rate, 9%, indicates that local people mostly prefer private transportation vehicles. The results of the workshop indicate that private transportation vehicles provide time savings in comparison with public transport modes. Action Plan 2 proposes to improve public transportation with new public transit modes and reduce at least 50 MtCO2eq of transportation-based emissions.
Current technologies entering the transit industry offer great improvements in fuel economy of vehicles. Action Plan 3 targets to achieve considerable reductions in fleet fuel consumption by changing fleet buses and minibuses with new vehicles, more efficient vehicles in the short term and hybrid-electric vehicles in the medium term. It is expected to save 1,157 tCO2eq and 42,716 tCO2eq transportation-based emissions by low carbon transformation and by hybrid-electric transformation in public transport fleet respectively.
It is a fact that switching from conventional polluting vehicles to electric powered vehicles is a near future trend driven primarily by growing concerns about climate change. However, the transformation is likely to be time consuming and uncertain in locations where charging process is more difficult. In Sakarya city, fast-charging stations just emerged in some locations like shopping malls, hotels and highway side facilities. Action Plan 4 targets to support infrastructure studies to extend electric vehicle transformation in the city. The success of all the action plans above is depended on public awareness and acceptance. Activities to improve the social infrastructure to develop and/or transform transportation modes are vital for green mobility. Safe and economic training is a powerful social infrastructure tool of transportation to reduce use of fossil fuels and transport-based emissions. Action Plan 8 targets to train all drivers in the city and in particular drivers of public transportation modes. Current researches indicate that efficient driving behaviours can reduce use of fossil fuels by 5% and 10% for moderate driving styles and by almost 20% for aggressive driving styles (Gonder, J et al. 2011). Training passengers and pedestrians is also a powerful tool to extend public transportation modes, bike transport and pedestrian transport. Action Plan 9 targets to organize training activities at schools for raising social awareness of young people of the society and to organize bike events to incentivize local people to cycling.
Sakarya city has a favourable topological structure for cycling. The municipal corporation developed a bicycle share system called SAKBIS which provides 110 bikes and 15 stations in different locations of the city. The results of the workshop indicate that the application received public acceptance and reached over 120 thousand accesses (Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality. Strategic Plan 2020-2024). Action Plan 5 targets to stimulate cycling and discouraging the use of private cars. In this context, urgent actions are determined to improve the physical infrastructure as well as the physical. Building new cycle ways, bike parking and bike stations are the prior actions since cycling is one of the developing transport modes of the city. One of the key outcomes of the workshop is that many local people’s perceptions of road safety acts a significant barrier to cycling. Therefore, the next action must be establishment of new bike friendly traffic regulations in the city. Besides, integration of SAKBIS with the other public transport modes is also an urgent action to discourage the use of private cars.
Walking is the oldest transportation mode and the primary for some people (Loukaitou-Sideris, 2020). However, there are significant barriers to pedestrian travel like the lack of access to sideways, lack of regulations on pedestrian safety, disintegration of sideways to the other public transport modes and disinterest in walking (Anciaes PR, 2016). Action Plan 6 presents urgent local actions to increase pedestrian travel in Sakarya city. Building sideways, integrating sideways with the other public transport modes and traffic calming are listed as the actions to improve the physical infrastructure. On the social infrastructure side, urgent actions to convey health and environmental messages to demonstrate that walking brings health benefits for all people and environmental benefits in all locations can help to raise social awareness.
Vehicle sharing is an emerging transportation system reducing fossil fuel uses, increasing safety and reducing operating costs (Jones EC, et al. 2019, OECD/ITF 2017). In Sakarya city, only bicycle sharing system, SAKBIS, has been effectively operated. Action Plan 7 targets to increase vehicle station facilities, vehicle fleet size and customer demand sin the city in parallel with Action Plan 4 and Action Plan 5. Investigating management models to meet current and future mobility needs, cooperation with private enterprises to build flexible services and public incentivisation are determined the key actions to increase low and/or zero carbon vehicle sharing systems. However, achieving the targets of Action Plan 7 is depended on the progress of Action Plan 4 and Action Plan 5. It is expected to save almost 43,899 tCO2eq transportation-based emissions, if Action Plans 4-7 are successfully and urgently put into practice.
Figure 2 indicates greenhouse gas emissions by transportation sector of reference year 2017 and 2030. From the figure, it can be concluded that transportation action plans proposed within SWOT analysis in Table 1 promises to decrease sector-based emissions by 27% compared to 2017 and by 26% compared to 2030 business as usual (BAU) Scenario.
3.2. Buildings
Sakarya Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory 2019 indicated that the largest contribution comes from building sector, 57.5% of total emissions of the city. The largest share of emissions by the sector came from industrial buildings to a record 27%. Residential buildings and commercial buildings were responsible for 19.9% and 9.6% of total emissions by the sector. Building outdoor lighting systems and municipal buildings followed industry, residential buildings and commercial buildings with smallest shares of 0.7% and 0.3% respectively (Figure 3). Building based emissions increased from 1,372,910 tCO2eq in 2017 to 1,419,701 tCO2eq in 2019. One of the sustainable development targets of the city is to decrease these emissions by at least 450,319 tCO2eq by 2030.
In Sakarya city, there are 13 small industry areas and 6 organized industrial areas with a total area of 772 Hectares. Besides, new organized industrial areas in Karasu, Ferizli, Kaynarca and Akyazı towns are in the construction phase. Industry based emissions of the city is recorded 1,254,061 tCO2eq in 2019 (Sakarya Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 2018-2021 Strategic Plan). It is expected to record larger emissions in the following years, since the sector experiences a rapid growth.
This paper proposes urgent local buildings and industry action plans for Sakarya city in Table 3 on the basis SWOT analysis results in Table 1.
Table 3. Buildings Sector Action Plans For Sakarya City
Action Plan 1
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energy savings in residential buildings
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Action Plan 2
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energy savings in non-residential buildings
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Action Plan 3
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urban transformation
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Action Plan 4
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energy savings in municipal buildings
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Action Plan 5
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renovation of outdoor lighting systems
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In Sakarya city, the largest share of residential buildings-based emissions came from fossil fuel use for heating- 65% of building based emissions and 20% of total emissions. Heating based energy demands of the city is larger than cooling energy demands due to climate conditions of the city. Therefore, thermal insulation can make a significant difference in the city’s emissions by heating and cooling. Action Plan 1 proposes that thermal insulation for all buildings can reduce heating and cooling based energy demands and emissions of the city almost 533,186 MWh and 121,112 tCO2eq at least by 2030. Natural gas is the primary heating energy source of residential buildings in the city. An urgent action by Action Plan 1 is to complete natural gas transformation in all residential buildings in the city. It is estimated that 14.876 tCO2eq of building based emissions cane be saved by coal to natural gas transformation. The other urgent action of the plan is to renovate lighting systems of residential buildings. Energy efficient new lighting systems can provide 18,005 MWh energy savings and 9,254 tCO2eq emission savings by 2030. However, Action Plan 1 underlines that social awareness is the key to succeed expected savings within the actions by the plan. It is likely to make additional 77,163 MWh energy savings and 39,662 tCO2eq emission savings by 2030 with social responsibility as well as heating, cooling and lighting savings. Therefore, activities to raise the awareness of local people are also listed within urgent actions to reduce carbon foot print by residential buildings.
Non-residential buildings, commercial buildings and industrial buildings, were responsible for 35% of the city’s total building-based emissions. Action Plan 2 offers thermal insulation, renovation of lighting systems and social awareness activities to reduce total emissions by commercial buildings. Although cooling has a larger share in energy demands of non-residential buildings, thermal insulation can still provide 142,911 MWh energy savings and 30,689 tCO2eq emission savings. However, energy efficient lighting systems can make a significant change in total emissions of commercial buildings and industrial buildings by 161,671 tCO2eq savings. Previous studies held in Sakarya city proves that more than 40% lighting energy saving is possible just using a daylight-controlled lighting automation system in such buildings (Yavuz, C et al. 2010, Yavuz, C et al.2012). Social responsibility is also vital in this sector with a potential of 94,360 MWh energy savings and 57,689 tCO2eq emission savings in addition to the savings by thermal insulation and energy efficient lighting energy systems.
Sakarya city lies down on the North Anatolian Fault System. Many earthquakes occurred in the last two millennia along the city and surrounding area (Karabacak, v. et al. 2019). Therefore, the priority of all buildings in the region is to withstand earthquakes (Özmen, C et al. 2007). Action Plan 3 targets to integrate energy efficiency applications with design and construction stages of buildings which do not comply with earthquake regulations. Urban transformation plans including sustainable energy solutions can contribute to sustainability of the city in terms of safety, energy access and climate change concerns.
Sakarya Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory 2017 indicates that municipal buildings are responsible for 19,289 tCO2eq of total emissions of the city. Although actions to reduce emissions by municipal buildings do not promise significant savings, a potential of 3,906 tCO2eq, Action Plan 4 presents that these actions can support action plans to extend social awareness. Therefore, it is suggested to put place in urgent actions of thermal insulation, energy efficient lighting systems and social awareness activities to succeed Action Plan 1 and Action Plan 2.
The share of outdoor lighting of municipal and public buildings in total emissions of the city was recorded 31,184 tCO2eq in 2017. Action Plan 5 targets to renovate outdoor lighting systems of all public buildings, since the government encourages corporations to make at least 15% outdoor lighting energy savings in parallel with the growth rate of electricity price of the country. An energy efficient outdoor lighting transformation with 15% energy savings can provide 11,500 tCO2eq emission savings to Sakarya city.
Figure 4 indicates greenhouse gas emissions by building sector of reference year 2017 and 2030. From the figure, it can be concluded that buildings sector action plans proposed within SWOT analysis in Table 1 promises to decrease building-sector based emissions by 20% compared to 2017 and by 33% compared to 2030 BAU Scenario.
3.3. Renewable energy
In 2019, total annual electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by electricity generation of Sakarya city were recorded 3,144,306 MWh and 1,869,116 tCO2eq. The share of total annual electricity generation-based emissions in total city emissions was 40% (Figure 5). Industrial sector makes the largest contribution with a 58% share and followed by commercial, residential and agricultural sectors.
In Sakarya city, solar and bioenergy technologies are promising to transform energy system of the city into a more sustainable one mainly by renewable energy sources. The annual mean solar radiation of the city is about 1450 kWh/m2, lower than Turkey’s annual mean record but still a great potential comparing to Germany mean value (Figure 6) (Solar GIS, Solar resource maps of Turkey,Solar GIS, Solar resource maps of Germany). Bioenergy is an important source of sustainable energy in Sakarya city due to its significant potential of forest sources and non-forest sources (solid wastes, animal wastes and agricultural crop residues). In 2019, annual dry biomass po-tential of field crops and tree pruning wastes are recorded 974,990 tonnes and 28,304,823 tonnes respectively (Sakarya Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2018-2021 Strategic Plan).
Republic of Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources 2019-2023 Strategic Plan aims to increase the share of renewables in electricity generation by at least 38.8%. In this context, it is expected to reach a total installed renewable capacity of 56,804 MW by 10,000 MW solar photovoltaic, 11,883 MW wind, 32,037 hydro and 2,884 geothermal and biomass (Turkish Republic Ministiry of Energy and Natural Resources. National Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2017-2023). Short term and midterm renewable energy targets of SMM Strategic Plan to increase the installed renewable capacity of the city coincide well with national energy goals.
This paper proposes urgent renewable energy action plans for Sakarya city in Table 4 on the basis of SWOT analysis results in Table 1.
Table 4. Renewable Energy Sector Action Plans for Sakarya City
Action Plan 1
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solar photovoltaic energy applications in public buildings
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Action Plan 2
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solar photovoltaic energy applications in residential and non-residential buildings
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Action Plan 3
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green electricity tariffs
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Action Plan 4
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renovation of street lighting
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Action Plan 5
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electricity from municipal solid waste
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In Sakarya city, the share of electricity in total energy demand and total emissions of public buildings are almost 16.8% and 33.1%. Action Plan 1 offers that utilizing renewable energy sources as the primary energy source for electricity generation in municipal buildings and other public buildings can provide significant energy savings and consequently emission savings. It is likely to put urgent actions in place within Action Plan 1, since public buildings have some advantages in parallel with relevant regulations relating to unlicensed electricity generation based on renewables. Current legislation allows unlicensed applications up to 5 MW installed power (Republic of Turkey Energy Market Regulatory Authority, Electricity Legislation 2019). In this context, the prior target is to install 25,000 kWp solar photovoltaic energy systems in municipal buildings and the other public buildings by 2030. To achieve this target, the first action must be to determine primary and proper buildings for solar PV applications by a full feasibility study. Then, resources must be investigated to ensure the rapid transition to solar PV energy in the selected buildings. Finally, tendering schemes must be developed for installation, operation and maintenance stages by typical project experiences. There are several previous studies, regarding the best installation angles (Tirmikci, CA et al. 2019a) and mechanical preferences of PV systems (Tirmikci, CA et al. 2018b) for Sakarya city, that responsible authorities can easily use to find the best system match for the best building. Taking all actions into account the targeted solar PV capacity will provide at least a sum of 30,000 MWh annual mean electricity generation and 15,402 tCO2eq emission savings.
Residential and non-residential buildings are responsible for 41% of total electricity consumption and 40.9% of total energy-based emissions of Sakarya city. Action Plan 2 offers a rapid solar PV energy transition for these buildings by utilizing current legislation allowing unlicensed applications up to 5 MW installed power. As in Action 1, doing a full feasibility study, resource investigation and developing tendering schemes are urgent actions for success. However, the city is in the process of urban transformation within relevant legislation relating disaster risk areas. This process to build new residential areas and to transform the risky building stock can be considered as an opportunity for energy transition. In this context, local governments subsidize PV applications at certain capacities in residential and non-residential buildings to speed up the transition. It is aimed to increase the installed solar PV capacity of residential and non-residential buildings by 175 MWp by 2030. The new capacity promises 240,000 MWh electricity generation and 107,940 tCO2eq emission savings annually.
Republic of Turkey Energy Market Regulatory Board approved a green tariff of 0.698 TL/kW which allows end users to source up their electricity from renewable resources. Action Plan 3 targets to increase renewable energy demand on the end customer side by increasing the number of green tariffs. The priority of the action plan is to extend greenest tariffs from energy suppliers that buy electricity certificate directly from renewable energy generators. Greenest tariffs tend to be more expensive due to the cost and efficiency of renewable energy generation systems. However, the demand for these tariffs are likely to increase in parallel with social awareness actions within local and national sustainable development plans to convince the end users that this price is worth paying. Besides, it is vital to increase the number of mixed tariffs from suppliers that provide end users mixed electricity from mix of renewable resources and fossil fuels. Although mixed tariffs do not promise to stimulate the development of renewables, they can speed the transition to a hundred percent renewable tariffs in Sakarya city where the number of green end users are very few. It is likely to save 514 tCO2eq emissions annually by a 1000 kWh of electricity consumption of an end user from a greenest tariff.
Reports indicate that the share of street lighting in total energy demand of SMM is 15.8% which accounts for 31.184 tCO2eq/year. Action Plan 4 targets to reduce the street lighting demands by renovating the street lighting systems. The prior action must be to analyse lighting energy demands and to do a feasibility analysis of lighting systems regionally. In the next step, lighting systems must be renovated as per the order of priority given by feasibility reports. It is likely to provide 18.309 kWh energy savings and 9.41 tCO2eq emission savings annually by renovation of at least half of street lighting systems in the city.
SMM generates electricity from municipal solid waste with an installed capacity of 3.87 MW at Sakarya Integrated Solid Waste Management Centre (SEKAY). Action Plan 5 offers that increasing the installed capacity of generation from municipal solid waste can be a rapid solution in short term to decrease the carbon foot print of the city in the process of renewable energy transition in all sectors.
Figure 7 indicates total greenhouse gas emissions of reference year 2017 and 2030. From the figure, it can be concluded that all action plans proposed within SWOT analysis in Table 1 promises to decrease total emissions by 24% compared to 2017 and by 28% compared to 2030 BAU Scenario.