ABSTRACT
APPLICATION OF NON-MARKET ECONOMIC VALUATION METHOD TO
VALUE THE ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN
MONETARY TERMS: A CASE STUDY IN YOZGAT PROVINCE
Horasanli, Erol
M.Sc., Department of Environmental Engineering
Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Emre ALP
December 2010, 100 pages
Determining environmental economic benefits of geothermal energy is difficult
since there is no market for all environmental goods and services related to it. In
order to determine and measure the market price of non-market goods and services,
non-market valuation methods are used. Since intangible benefits do not have
monetary values, non-market valuation techniques are applied to estimate them.
Non-market valuation methods are important tools for policy makers in the cost and
benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment process to aid their final
decision.
In this study, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to determine the
environmental benefits of using geothermal energy for house heating instead of
fossil fuels and natural gas in Yozgat (center). The willingness to pay for
geothermal energy of the Yozgat residents was determined and underlying
motivations to use geothermal energy were assessed.
The results showed that the mean willingness to pay (WTP) for the usage of
geothermal energy in house heating to increase air quality and mitigate the effects
v
of climate change is $50/person/month. The results also showed that respondents
know the importance of the climate changes and they believe that geothermal
energy usage will affect the mitigation of climate changes positively. The
geothermal energy investment in the region will amortize itself in 3 years.
Therefore, in the feasibility studies, geothermal energy investment seems feasible.
During the regression analyses, climate change and air pollution parameters were
the most significant parameters for the calculation of mean WTP. Since, decrease in
air pollution using geothermal energy, will also mitigate the effect of climate
changes, during the geothermal investment in the region, training activities and
campaigns should be carried to cover the issues of climate change and global
warming to emphasis that geothermal energy will serve for multi-dimensional
environmental problems.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:METU/oai:etd.lib.metu.edu.tr:http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612783/index.pdf |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Creators | Horasanli, Erol |
| Contributors | Alp, Emre |
| Publisher | METU |
| Source Sets | Middle East Technical Univ. |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | M.S. Thesis |
| Format | text/pdf |
| Rights | To liberate the content for public access |
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