It’s easy to put your mouth on your money before you start your career, yet Turkey has captured the sentiment of youth in a new study that find Turkish youth will pay 10% more on renewable energy.
The study involved participants with an average age of 24, comprising 45% male and 55% female. Most participants (74 %) were associate degree and undergraduate students, followed by graduate students (15 %) and doctoral students (11 %).
The study published in Energy for Sustainable Development found a positive result – that youth are willing to pay more for renewable energy, and this will influence future decisions about budgeting and developing renewable energy,
The study led by student Furkan Acikgoz was supervised by Prof. Ozlem Yorulmaz of Turkey.
The researchers write: “Public acceptance of renewable energy will accelerate the transition from energy sources that cause high emissions to environmentally friendly energy sources to combat climate change. For this reason, it is crucial to investigate the adoption intentions of different target audiences.”
They targeted Turkish university students, who are the future decision-makers.
As an emerging economy, Turkey has a chronic current account deficit issue, and energy imports are the primary cause of this imbalance, the researchers point out. For many years, the country’s potential in renewables, especially in solar, hydro, and geothermal energy, remained untapped, leading to extensive debates.
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Fossil fuels, including oil, natural gas, and coal made up 81.3 percent of the primary energy supply of Turkey in 2022. The rest is supplied by 31.6 GW of hydroelectric, 25.75 GW of natural gas, 21.3 GW of coal, 11.45 GW of wind, 9.93 GW of solar, 1.7 GW of geothermal, and approximately 2 GW of biomass power plant installed capacity.
Turkey’s support for terror organizations such as Hamas (hosting and treating terror operatives in Turkish hospitals), declared publicly by its leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan make it a risky investment for countries that consider Hamas, ISIS and the the PKK as terror groups. The United States Government reports on thousands of terrorists in Turkey while Turkey declares that it is working to stop terror.
