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Turkish economy, which is energy-intense, grows fast and the energy demand of economy meet generally by fossil fuel combustion. Unfortunately, energy generation with the fossil fuel combustion comes with both global (CO2, N2O, CH4) and local air pollutants (NOx, PM, SOx, CO, NMVOC). Additionally, the secondary pollutants such as O3 and many types of acids form up in the lower atmosphere from the local air pollutants. Quantity of the pollutants strongly depends on combustion technology, flue gas treatment technology, and the fuel utilized.
Air pollution is still one of the major problems damaging human health and the natural environment in Turkey, like many other developing countries. Thousands of people die prematurely every year and their illness get worse due to air pollution. The economic losses associated with the premature dead and the illnesses are too large to be ignored. It is very unfortunate that policy-makers generally dont have enough scientific and technical support to be aware of the treats of these emissions. Therefore, their decisions are not based on sustainable development but short term benefits of economy.
If the damages associated with air pollution can be valued in a monetary term then policy-makers, enterprises and the public can take better decision for investment to reduce the air pollution to a level they prefer or sustainability requires. Hence, a balance between the needs of economy and ecology can be established effectively. Valuing of the damages requires multidisciplinary works that are inventorying of the major emissions, dispersion modeling, assessment of health effects and economic evaluation of the losses due to air pollution. |
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