During Energy Saving Week, I would first like to ask where do we consume more energy?
A little known fact is that we consume the most energy at home. More energy is consumed in residences than in industry. The main reason why housing exceeds industry is; The energy we use for both heating and cooling. I’m talking about 2023 figures. We consumed 100 billion dollars of energy. We imported 70 billion dollars of it. We use 33 percent of the total energy we consume in residences. 80 percent of this expenditure covers heating and cooling needs. Isn’t the rate too high?
You said that most energy is consumed in buildings. So, how can we reduce this?
With thermal insulation… Apart from the 80 percent of energy we use for heating and cooling at home, the remaining 20 percent is for lighting, electrical appliances and others… Of course, they are all important. But with this data, we see that the main part of the work is thermal insulation.
We entered this business 20 years ago and in those years, the number of thermally insulated buildings was 2 percent. Nowadays, it has risen to 30 percent. But it is not enough. If the number of insulated buildings increases, we will save energy and have a positive impact on the current account deficit I just mentioned.
Thermal insulation saves our households up to sixty percent on average in energy costs used in buildings. This applies to both electricity bills in summer and natural gas bills in winter.
When we entered the thermal insulation sector in 2003, these works were called “goals beyond dreams”. We achieved goals beyond our dreams. Since then, we have coated over 260 million square meters. This means two million seven hundred and fifty thousand residences. And if we assume that 3.2 people live in a house, according to TÜİK data, we have provided both 4-season savings and 4-season comfort to 11 million households.
Fifteen billion cubic meters less natural gas has been used with what we have done in 21 years. At today’s prices, that’s three billion dollars. That means three billion dollars of household savings. Households spent three billion dollars less. When we look at it from another side, today, in an environment where there is 70 percent subsidy, the state had a current account deficit of 10 billion dollars less.
30 PERCENT IS INSULATED
Are you one of the leading brands in this field in Turkey? What is the main reason for your motivation regarding thermal insulation?
Thermal insulation was important 20 years ago, it will be even more important today and even more tomorrow.
I just mentioned it. When we started this business in the early 2000s, the number of insulated buildings was at the level of 2 percent. It is currently 30 percent. Although this is an important development, we still have a way to go.
Here’s what we need to know. We are in a critical period regarding the supply security and continuity of energy. First, with rapid globalization, walls between countries came down. However, with the significant supply problems that occurred after the global financial crisis in 2008 and the Covid process, we started to move from globalization to localization. New poles, trade wars, and increasing arm wrestling between countries began to emerge.
We are experiencing the greatest restructuring in the history of our world. The transformation in our geography is perhaps the most striking. The importance of being self-sufficient has increased in the new world approach. Reducing our dependencies is of strategic importance. We must absolutely reduce our dependence on foreign sources, especially in energy.
We have very important developments in energy and energy efficiency in our country. Both in renewable energy production and energy efficiency/saving… We see energy efficiency as a “national issue” for these critical reasons. Energy efficiency and savings to be achieved through thermal insulation in residences are our expertise that we have developed with social responsibility awareness.
Do you have any research on the benefits of thermal insulation?
Our exemplary work with the public started when we were just established. We were in Erzurum 20 years ago. We installed thermal insulation in a lodging at Atatürk University in accordance with the standards. We compared this building, which was insulated for a winter season, with an identical building but without insulation. And at that time, we calculated that there was a 51 percent energy saving difference between the two buildings.
Again in Marmaris, we carried out thermal insulation in a service building belonging to Muğla Metropolitan Municipality. We compared the July electricity bill after the thermal insulation of this building with the previous July bill when the building was not thermally insulated. The result was savings of up to 50 percent, even in summer regions.
We also have projects where we examine the effects of thermal insulation systems not only on economic but also on human health. We built two test houses, one insulated and the other uninsulated, with no difference other than thermal insulation, in our Gebze factory. With the data received from many sensors and devices that we placed on all facades, both indoors and outdoors, we measured how thermal insulation changes indoor comfort and, in this context, how it affects human and environmental health. All our measurements determined how important the walls are to create a thermally comfortable environment inside. While thermal insulation does not occur in houses where thermal insulation is monitored under different weather conditions throughout the year, mold does not form in the thermally insulated house; We encountered mold in a house without thermal insulation. Mold has many known negative effects on health. The most common of these are allergic complaints, asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis.
Our houses need to be developed in accordance with building physics, without hindering modern urbanization conditions. But it should also provide the natural comfort that people need. Now we have established new test houses in the garden of our factory in Kayseri. We continue to conduct new research.
I think that the data and proof obtained from these studies are much more important than words. In this respect, we are trying to do our best to share the studies proven with clear scientific data with our people, so that they can enter into thermal insulation with greater courage and benefit both themselves and the country.
IT PROTECTS NOT ONLY THE BUDGET, BUT ALSO THE ENVIRONMENT
Thermal insulation not only has economic and health benefits. I would also like to ask about its benefits to the environment.
Yes. You are doing such a job that it has a positive impact on the current account deficit, heating and cooling costs are reduced, the environment is protected and houses are more comfortable.
We have saved over 33 million tons of greenhouse gas equivalent to carbon dioxide with the insulation we have installed since 2003. So we prevented air pollution. This figure is equivalent to the 24-year carbon dioxide absorption of Bolu forests, one of the largest forests in our country.
As you know, the topic we talk about most these days is “Sustainability”. Sustainability means ensuring permanent development for our common future, without endangering or risking the needs of future generations while meeting the economic and social needs of the day.
Human beings consumed their limited resources recklessly to meet their unlimited needs. We have placed more burden on our universe than it can bear. Every day we have to find a way to produce more with less resources.
This issue is on the agenda in the world, especially under the title of combating global climate change.
With the Paris Climate Agreement in November 2016, the world decided to put a stop to global climate change. The prediction that the world population will reach 10 billion in 2050 and the increasing trend in energy consumption clearly show the extent of the measures that need to be taken in the fight against global climate change.
Global warming of 1.2 C has occurred since the industrial revolution that started in the mid-18th century. If radical measures are not taken, the world will warm up by 4.5 degrees and become uninhabitable with our population reaching 10 billion in 2050.
The goal is to limit global warming to 1.5 C by 2050. We can support this with thermal insulation. Because thermal insulation in buildings is one of the factors that provides the greatest benefit in energy efficiency.
When we see all these benefits, we see this issue as a “national issue” with the aim of becoming a leader in Turkey and having a say in Europe, and we work by developing industrialism with lower profitability.
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Source: bigpara.hurriyet.com.tr
