ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS AND SOCIETIES: INTERNAL ASSESSMENT (IB)

 

HOW DOES THE COUNTRIES’ -TURKEY, THE NETHERLANDS AND THE USA- SOLAR POWER USAGE CORRELATE WITH THEIR ECONOMIC STATUS?

PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT

Solar energy can be used for solar water heaters and house heating. The heat from solar energy enables the production of food, chemicals, textiles, and it can also be used in warm greenhouses, swimming pools, and livestock buildings. Furthermore, providing a power source for electronic devices and even cooking can be achieved by using solar energy[1].

Turkey is a country which might use the solar power energy efficiently. However, in our country, although the solar energy is used sporadically for hot water in domestic use and in some hotels in southern Turkey, we can state that it is not widely applied as a sustainable and a clean energy source. Unlike Turkey, the Netherlands uses the technological opportunities really well, even though the country does not have an extreme access of sun light[2]. On the contrary, United States of America has the opportunity to use solar power, but this country lacks social awareness[3]. There is no study comparing the solar power usage of these countries which all have a different economic status and different degrees of social awareness.

By using solar panels, people may reduce the emissions released into the air by reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, which as a result will decrease the effects of pollution[4]. Therefore, in this study the difference in the solar power usage among these countries will be investigated[5]. Generally, the economic and technological opportunities as well as the social awareness will be discussed during the project[6].

EXPLORATION

·                    RESEARCH QUESTION

How does the countries’ -the Netherlands, United States of America and Turkey- solar power usage correlate with their economic status (their annual national income will be considered) by using the governmental data of years from 2000 to 2020?

·                    BACKGROUND

In the developing world, the energy supply is coming an important problem. As of the year 2022, almost 8 billion people live on earth[7], all of which need energy to live. Most of this energy is supplied from the fossil fuels[8]. However, the use of the fossil fuels has ended up with an environmental hazard: the climate change with four key indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification[9]. On top this, due the recent changes in the global politics the fossil fuel supply to European countries has been restricted by Russia and the petroleum prizes get higher and higher. All these changes make it necessary to create new energy options and to reduce the importance of fossil fuels[10].

In solar panels, the sunlight is converted into electrical energy via photovoltaic panels. This energy is used to generate electricity or stored in batteries[11]. Fossil fuels are made from decomposing of plants and animals which contain carbon and hydrogen. Some examples are coal, oil and natural gas which are burned to generate energy[12]. Sustainable energy can be described as clean and renewable sources of energy which can provide the necessary energy of both present and future generations. Solar power, wind power, biomass and wave energy can be given as some examples[13]. Sustainable energy provides several benefits, such as energy can be generated without releasing greenhouse gases, air pollution can be minimized, new working areas and job opportunities are created.

The average data is calculated from approximately 10 years data. The data is gathered from the governments’ websites, some well-known organisations’ websites and articles which are related about this topic. The websites and articles used are given in the references part.

·                    TURKEY

Turkey is located on the northern hemisphere. Its climate zones are subtropical zone and temperate zone[14]. It has different types of climates: Mediterranean climate: summers are hot and dry; winters are mild and rainy. Black Sea climate: summers are cool; winters are warm in the coastal area, snowy and cold at higher regions. Terrestrial climate: temperature differences between day-night, winter-summer are large. Marmara climate: The mixture of all the other climates seen in Turkey[15].

Turkey is a sunny land with a lot of sun light throughout the year. The precipitation in mm per day has a range between 0.9 and 2.9. The annual mean precipitation is 574 mm per year. The average is 1.57 mm[16]. Rainy days per month has a range between 2.5 and 9.5[17]. Hours of sunlight per day has a range between 3.6 and 10.8[18].

Relative humidity percentage has a range between 55 and 75. The average is 72. The average annual temperature is 13.4°C[19]. The average cloudy weather is 40.0 percent per month. The average UV index per month is 4.9 (This shows the Sun intensity, incoming solar energy, UV radiation). National annual average income per capita in 2020 8597 US Dollars[20].

·                    THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The United States of America (U.S.A.) is located on the northern hemisphere, and it has the widest area among the countries investigated. In order to maximize the energy savings in a home, building practices are done based on nine different climate zones[21].

The U.S.A. has different types of climates: Northeast: humid summers, picturesque autumns, and extreme ice and snowstorms in the winter. Northwest: wet climate, fog at higher elevations, snowy winters. West: geographic features such as deserts to the east and high elevation mountain ranges. Upper Midwest: is known for its seasonal extremes of temperature, temperatures can drop to -30°F (-34°C) in January. Northern Rockies and Plains: Continental climate of four distinct seasons including snowy winters and sunny summers, low humidity and rainfall, high temperatures. Ohio valley: continental climate region, summers rise up to 100°F (37.8°C) and winter lows hover near −20°F (-28.9°C). The region encounters turbulent winds and tornados. South: Mild winters and hot summers are observed. Southwest: The hottest part of the country, where generally deserts are found. Southeast: Humidity levels are high and many storms and hurricanes occur. It has a border with the Atlantic Ocean, which affects its climate. Tropical zone: Hawaii’s climate is included in this section. Its sub-zones range from monsoon to desert[22].

The average annual precipitation is 29.94 inches which is equal to 760.476 mm per year. The average precipitation per day is 2.08 mm[23]. The average of rainy days per year for the whole country is 150, which is equal to 12.5 days per month[24]. The average hour of sunlight is 10.1 hours for the whole country per day[25].

While the northern region has an average of 75 percent for relative humidity, the southern region has an average of 50 percent[26]. The average annual temperature is 52°F which is equal to 11.11°C[27] The average cloudy weather is 45.0 percent per month[28]. The total (average of the whole country is considered) UV index is calculated as 89, which is equal to 7.4 UV index per month[29]. National annual average income per capita in 2020 67521 US Dollars[30].

·                    THE NETHERLANDS

The Netherlands is located in the northern hemisphere. Its climate zone is temperate maritime (oceanic) climate shaped by the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Its climate is generally stable: Summers are cool and winters are moderate. Daytime temperatures: It has a range of 2°C to 6°C in winters; 17°C to 20°C in summers[31].

The Netherlands is the land of rain and water with quite limited sunshine. The amount of precipitation in mm per day seasonally are: Spring: 240.7 mm, summer: 219.6 mm, winter: 201.2 mm, autumn: 240.7 mm. Annual average precipitation is 2.47 mm[32]. Average annual number of rainy days is 187.7 days which is equal to 15.6 days per month[33]. The hours of sunlight per day seasonally are: Spring: 314.2 hours, summer: 587.6 hours, winter: 197.3 hours, autumn: 314.2 hours. Therefore, the average is 6.2 hours per day[34].

The annual relative humidity percentage average is 79[35]. The average annual temperature is 10.9°C[36]. The average cloudy weather is 50.5 percent per month[37]. The average UV index per month is calculated as 3.3. National annual average income per capita in 2020 45900 Euros which is equal to 51873 US Dollars[38].

After the middle of the year 2022, the Europe has affected by the energy crisis, which is a global environmental issue[39]. Due to this current situation, altering the energy sources is getting important day by day. The whole world -especially Europe- is now aiming to increase the usage of renewable energy sources. So far, one of the most popular renewable energy source is the solar power. Therefore, investigating the countries backgrounds about this topic is needed. The countries background is generally shaped by their economic opportunities and the social awareness.

·                    HYPOTHESIS

H₁: There is statistically significant difference between the solar power usage of three countries (the Netherlands, the USA, Turkey) between 2000 and 2020.

H₀: There is not statistically significant difference between the solar power usage of three countries (the Netherlands, the USA, Turkey) between 2000 and 2020.

·                    VARIABLES

 

Type of variable	Variable	How is the variable controlled?
Independent	The economic status (the annual national income) of the countries Turkey, the United States and the Netherlands.	The data is based on the countries’ national annual average income per capita in 2020. The data is checked from the governments’ websites.
Dependent	The amount of usage of the solar powers in the countries Turkey, The Netherlands and the United States.	The data is based on the countries governments’ websites.
Controlled	The chosen years are from 2000 to 2020 for each country.	The data is selected according to the chosen period of time.

Table 1.1 The table of variables and how the variables are controlled.

METHOD AND METHODOLOGY

1.      Determining the topic

2.      Searching the background information

3.      Determining the variables

4.      Creating the hypothesis

5.      Determining the data needed

6.      Searching the data from reliable references (governments’ or well-known organisations’ websites, related articles)

7.      Collecting and gathering the raw data in tables, charts and graphs

8.      Processing the data collected (calculating the mean values of the raw data)

9.      Searching for the uncertainties and adding them into the charts, graphs and tables

10.  Interpreting the processed data (r² process will be checked for the statistics)

11.  Discussing the overall data and determining the reliability of the claimed hypothesis

12.  Discussing the limitations of data found and suggesting improvements

13.  Summarizing the general research

14.  Discussing the reliability of collected data and ethical considerations

RELIABILITY OF THE COLLECTED DATA

The information is gathered from the governments’ and some well-known companies’ websites. For instance, some data is collected from United Nations Human Rights while searching for the Netherlands’ climate actions. Furthermore, some statistics about Turkey is gathered from Turkey’s national statistics data portal (TÜİK). Therefore, all the information is reliable.

The years from 2000 to 2020 is chosen because for the last twenty years the technology has developed, the energy crisis was encountered more frequently and the number of research done was higher when compared to the years before 2020.

The independent variable is chosen as the economic status of the selected countries. If a country has more annual income per capita, then the amount of solar power usage will increase in that country. It is thought that the country’s economy affects the solar power usage because the construction of the solar panel systems needs considerable investment.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS                                                                                                        

While the data is collected, not only one website is searched. In order to control the first information, some other websites are also checked. As more than one websites are checked for each topic, the average values are considered. Therefore, ethical implications of the actions done have been considered in terms of intellectual rights. All the references used have been added into the references part.

As the project consists of second hand data, it does not include any experiments done on the species. Therefore, the environment is not harmed during this process.

 

ANALYSIS

DATA COLLECTION

RAW DATA

	TURKEY	THE USA	THE NETHERLANDS
Number of residences and workplaces using solar energy	No statistics could be found.	Today, the 2 million residential, commercial and utility-scale solar installations produce enough electricity each year to power more than 12 million American homes. By 2024, 2.5 percent of all U.S. homes will have a solar installation[40].	892 km2 of roof surface in The Netherlands is suitable for solar panels. This is the equivalent of 125,000 soccer fields. The Netherlands currently has a total of 9 million buildings of which only 4.4% have solar panels on their roofs; a total installed base of 3 million solar panels in 2017[41]
Companies working on using solar energy	EkoRE Zorlu Energy ASUNİM	Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)	Orsted,  Siemens Gamesa,   DNV GL. Air Liquide[42]
The support given by the governments	No evident support could be found.	Local, state, and federal government entities in the United States looking to procure solar for themselves or make it easier for their communities to install solar can utilize best practices and resources already developed by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office: Local government guide for solar deployment Procuring solar for federal facilities Solar technical assistants Energy-related federal financial assistance programmes[43]	Dutch central government is promoting a 1.5% increase in energy savings per year in order to cut CO2 emissions. It is making agreements on this with industry and other economic sectors. Homeowners can get loans or grants to make their homes energy-efficient[44].
Number of articles published on this topic (numbers are based on “Google Scholar”)	35 600	345 000	96 100
Slar power based startups	Solarify Enerji Atlası GTC Solar Solimpeks[45]	Solopower Silicor Materials 1366 Technologies Mpower Technology Sundensity Bert Thin Films Bluedot Photonics Toledo Solar Solarcube Swift Solar Asoleyo Violet Power[46]	Solarnow Solease ETC Solar Watly Solar Monkey Sustainer Homes Sundata Solarcreed Triple Solar Viridi Production Senfal Hello Energy[47]

Table 2.1 Comparison of the countries’ solar panel usage according to their applications in daily life.

 

 

 

Table 2.2 Table of the Solar Energy Consumption of the Netherlands in GWh, the USA in KWh, Turkey in MWh from the year 2000 to 2020[48]^{,[49],[50],[51],[52]}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1.1: The Solar Energy Consumption of the Netherlands (GWh), the USA (MWh), Turkey (KWh) between 2000 – 2020[53]^{,[54],[55],[56],[57]}

 

 

PROCESSED DATA

 

Table 2.3 Table of the Solar Energy Consumption of the Netherlands, the USA, Turkey in KWh from the year 2000 to 2020[58]^{,[59],[60],[61],[62]}

1 GWh = 1000000 KWh        e.g. 7642 GWh = 7642000000 KWh

1 MWh = 1000 KWh             e.g. 892 MWh = 892000 KWh

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

 

The statistical analysis was done with IBM SPSS Statistics 24.0.

 

ONEWAY

Notes
Output Created		15-SEP-2022 14:09:50
Comments
Input	Data	C:\Users\eren\Desktop\enerji tüketim.sav
	Active Dataset	DataSet1
	Filter	<none>
	Weight	<none>
	Split File	<none>
	N of Rows in Working Data File	63
Missing Value Handling	Definition of Missing	User-defined missing values are treated as missing.
	Cases Used	Statistics for each analysis are based on cases with no missing data for any variable in the analysis.
Syntax		ONEWAY consumption BY groups /STATISTICS DESCRIPTIVES HOMOGENEITY /PLOT MEANS /MISSING ANALYSIS /POSTHOC=SNK TUKEY SCHEFFE LSD BONFERRONI DUNNETT ALPHA(0.05).
Resources	Processor Time	00:00:00,25
	Elapsed Time	00:00:00,19

 

 

 

DESCRIPTIVES
consumption
	N	Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error	95% Confidence Interval for Mean		Minimum	Maximum
					Lower Bound	Upper Bound
Netherland	21	1187,7143	2067,40831	451,14548	246,6413	2128,7873	8,00	7642,00
USA	21	180,2857	278,65609	60,80774	53,4430	307,1284	5,00	892,00
Turkey	21	18,5238	25,47473	5,55904	6,9279	30,1198	,00	83,00
Total	63	462,1746	1294,56746	163,10017	136,1420	788,2072	,00	7642,00

 

TEST OF HOMOGENEITY OF VARIANCES
				Levene Statistic		df1		df2		Sig.
consumption	Based on Mean			18,761		2		60		,000
	Based on Median			5,648		2		60		,006
	Based on Median and with adjusted df			5,648		2		20,723		,011
	Based on trimmed mean			13,004		2		60		,000
The homogeneity of variance assumption is important so that the pooled estimate can be used. The pooling of variances is done because the variances are assumed to be equal and estimating the same quantity (the population variance) in the first place. In this analysis, there is no significant difference among the groups in terms of the variances, which makes the variances in the analyzed data reliable. ANOVA
consumption
		Sum of Squares	df		Mean Square		F		Sig.
Between Groups		16856599,270	2		8428299,635		5,809		,005
Within Groups		87049505,810	60		1450825,097
Total		103906105,079	62

 

There is a significant difference among the groups in terms of consumption. (p=0.005) (ANOVA) This implies that my H₁hypothesis was verified. (H₁: There is statistically significant difference between the solar power usage of three countries (the Netherlands, the USA, Turkey) between 2000 and 2020.)

 

POST HOC TESTS

MULTIPLE COMPARISONS
Dependent Variable:   consumption
	(I) groups	(J) groups	Mean Difference (I-J)	Std. Error	Sig.	95% Confidence Interval
						Lower Bound	Upper Bound
Tukey HSD	Netherland	USA	1007,42857*	371,71739	,023	114,1112	1900,7459
		Turkey	1169,19048*	371,71739	,007	275,8731	2062,5078
	USA	Netherland	-1007,42857*	371,71739	,023	-1900,7459	-114,1112
		Turkey	161,76190	371,71739	,901	-731,5554	1055,0792
	Turkey	Netherland	-1169,19048*	371,71739	,007	-2062,5078	-275,8731
		USA	-161,76190	371,71739	,901	-1055,0792	731,5554
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.

According to the Tukey HSD test (Tukey's honest significance test, or Tukey's HSD (honestly significant difference) test, Post Hoc of ANOVA), when the countries are compared, the solar energy consumption is significantly higher in the Netherlands than in Turkey according to the available data (p=0.007). However, there is no significant difference in terms of solar energy consumption between Turkey and the USA (p=0.901) and between the Netherlands and the USA (p=0.023).

In conclusion, the data have shown that the solar energy consumption is significantly higher in the Netherlands than in Turkey, although there are much longer “sun hours per year” in Turkey. However, although the consumption of solar energy is much lower in the U.S.A. compared to the Netherlands, there was no significant difference in terms of solar energy consumption between the Netherlands and the USA. Furthermore, although the consumption of solar energy is much higher in the U.S.A. compared to Turkey, there was no significant difference in terms of solar energy consumption between Turkey and the USA.

DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION

LIMITATIONS OF THE DATA AND SUGGESTION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT

The Netherlands is actually a country where the solar energy is far less available when compared to the most parts of Turkey and the USA. Although it may seem surprising that the solar energy consumption is significantly higher in the Netherlands than in Turkey, this result needs further analysis.

First of all, documentation of consumption of solar energy is done accurately and thoroughly in the Netherlands, where plenty of open-source documents are available. The data are kept and updated continuously. This might be an important factor which makes the consumption in the Netherlands seem to be higher. On the other hand, it has been quite difficult to find officially verified documents of the Turkish government about the solar energy consumption. It is very well possible that not every household or industrial use, which has been increasing in the last decades, has been registered officially. This has probably a negative effect on the available data about the solar energy consumption.

APPLICATIONS

The usage of solar power usage mainly helps reducing the global warming. From an anthropocentric view, we can create legislations in order to increase the usage of solar energy. For instance, if governments reduces the tax of the photovoltaic cells, people would be able to buy more. Also campaigns and advertisements should be done in order to increase the awareness of people. When governments take action about a topic, the citizens also pay attention. Technically, when the governments reduce taxes and start campaigns a new trend starts. Therefore, this suggestion would be effective. On the other hand, when coal and other fossil fuels are cheaper than the photovoltaic cells, people will prefer the cheaper one. Although, the governments, reduce the taxes, solar panels might be still more expensive than fossil fuels. Therefore, this can be considered as a limitation.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the data that is processed shows that the usage of solar energy is significantly higher in the Netherlands compared to Turkey, although they have much less exposure to the sunlight throughout the year. It is obvious that the Netherlands invests in solar panel usage. The main reasons for this difference might be the higher social awareness of environmental issues and the higher annual national income in the Netherlands.

The USA also pays attention to the usage of solar panels. However, the Netherlands has the highest usage. It can be considered that the USA has a high annual national income, and they try to rise the social awareness among the people. The USA is also a very big country with a variable climate. It can be suggested that the use of solar panels is less common in the parts with sunlight.

On the contrary, Turkey has a wonderful climate with a very high number of sunny days which is an advantage for production of solar energy. However, unfortunately, Turkey has a low national annual income. Therefore, even if the society is aware of the importance of solar panel usage, they cannot invest in that area.

As far as the application of the solar energy is concerned, a lot of examples can be mentioned. Actually, solar energy can be used for water heaters and house heating, for production of food, chemicals, textiles, and it can also be used in warm greenhouses, swimming pools, and livestock buildings. The usage of solar energy in these areas would not only supress the high costs of the fossil fuels, but also offer a renewable and sustainable source of energy which would fight against the environmental pollution and the global warming with all its unwanted effects such as greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification.

Unfortunately, most of these facilities with solar energy are not used in Turkey even though all these items mostly do not require high technology. Being nicely located on the Earth, Turkey has very long sun-hours. Therefore, we should investigate the possibilities for investment for the usage of solar energy.

The data collected indicates that there is a significant correlation between national annual income and solar panel usage. Yet, exact data about social awareness could not be found. Further investigation is necessary in that field. Probably, education of the Turkish community about solar energy and its advantages will also make a difference in awareness.

 

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