Determination of social views on the effects of geothermal energy use on agricultural areas and forest resources in the Aegean region

The aim of this study is to determine social views on the effects of geothermal energy use on agricultural areas and forest resources in the Aegean Region. In this context, the perspectives of four different provinces are presented in Denizli, Manisa, Uşak and Aydın in the Aegean Region. In this study, questionnaire technique was used as data collection method. The questionnaire was applied to 202 people. The likert scale of 5 was used in the questionnaire. SPSS 20 statistical package program was used for the evaluation of the obtained data and a statistical significance level of 0.05 was taken as the criterion. Because the data do not have normal distribution, non-parametric tests were evaluated by Kruskal Wallis test. As the most important findings in the research, the participants responded to the proposition that "the extraction and operation of geothermal energy sources cause changes in the ripening period of vegetable and fruit species grown in the Aegean region" with a rate of 91,3%. In addition, the participants responded to the proposition that "the extraction and operation of geothermal energy sources affect the forest cover of the Aegean region negatively" again with the highest rate of 81,3%. As a result of the statements given by the participants regarding the extraction and processing of geothermal energy, it was determined that the forest cover was negatively affected, but the ripening period of vegetables and fruits changed.