Assessment of Energy Agriculture Areas by GIS
Project no. 584 · Status: Kapanmış · 2016
Summary
Fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) that meet more than 80% of the global energy supply have, and continue to, play a dominant role in global energy systems. Fossil energy was a fundamental driver of the Industrial Revolution, and the technological, social, and economic development progress which has followed. However, fossil fuels also have negative impacts, being the dominant source of local air pollution and emitter of greenhouse gases, especially CO2. The world must therefore balance the role of energy in social and economic development with the need to decarbonise, reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, and transition towards lower-carbon energy sources (renewable energy). Energy crops will be the main driving force in the future to increase the share of biomass energy in renewable energy with their characteristics of being non-food and non-forage crops, being grown in areas that are not suitable for agriculture, no irrigation need, the creation of new employment in the agricultural breeding and providing a resolution to the disadvantage of biomass as a distributed resource. In national and/or regional bioeconomic strategies, the key issues to be addressed about energy crops are the principles to be followed, the criteria to be applied and the methods to be implemented “in the planning of energy agriculture fields. With considering these needs as the main starting point of the study, this project aims to determination of the edaphic, topographic and climatic criteria to be used in determining the areas where energy will be cultivated; GIS-supported Multiple Criteria Decision developed with the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Logic Integration of aquaculture areas in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions selected as the study area for the selected model energy plant broom (Spartium junceum L.) It is aimed to be determined with the support system support. The land suitable for the cultivation of broom was determined as land 6.65 million ha in the study region (Aegean and Mediterranean regions) with considering soil pH, soil depth, soil structure, elevation, slope, aspect, temperature, and precipitation criteria. The distribution of lands by suitability classes is as follows: (1) Best suited: 840 thousand ha (12.7%); (2) Suitable: 4.45 million ha (66.7%), (3) Medium suitable: 1.3 million ha (20.3%); (4) Low suitable: 21 thousand ha (0.3%). These results reveal that Aegean and Mediterranean regions have a significant potential for energy cultivation. The method and model developed within the scope of the project has a quality to guide future studies for different species and different study areas in the planning of energy crops cultivation areas.