“Habitat for Humanity Armenia” foundation and “Global Credit” universal credit organization signed a Loan Agreement on 1 August 2018 to enable low income families to use solar water heaters and solar panels. The Agreement was signed by Luiza Vardanyan, Executive Director of Habitat Armenia and Luiza Igraryan, Executive Director of “Global Credit” universal credit organization.
The goal of the project outlined in the collaborative effort of both organizations is to demonstrate the advantages of domestic use of solar water heaters and solar panels (solar equipment) by low income families in urban and rural communities of Armenia and contribute to their use.
“Habitat Armenia attached importance to creating opportunities for alternative energy use by low and middle income families, particularly when energy prices continue rising. The use of solar energy will enable the families to reduce their utility costs. At present our organization is implementing a few projects targeting energy efficiency of houses and residential buildings as well as the use of solar energy”, said Luiza Vardanyan, Executive Director of Habitat Armenia.
“During the recent years due to rising prices for natural gas and electricity the household conditions of the population are deteriorating. This undoubtedly contributes to the continuous growth of migration of population. As a socially responsible organization “Global Credit” implements a number of social projects parallel to which the organization has undertaken a new loan project – funding of solar water heaters -directed at reducing the utility payments of the population. In order to effectively implement the given project the staff members of the “Global Credit” UCO have undergone appropriate training”, said Luiza Igraryan, Executive Director of “Global Credit” universal credit organization.
The use of solar equipment is considered beneficial and is immediately connected to the comparatively limited possibilities for the solutions for improvement of the domestic conditions of the particularly low income families of Armenia. It enables the households to have affordable water heating system for the majority of the year which is not dependent on the imported and costly energy sources.
The expenses for the use of solar energy, particularly in this case, are paid back quicker than in case of other alternative sources. The water heaters operated by solar energy are the most efficient for now- their technology is quite simple, and they have a higher indicator of efficiency. Therefore, taking into account the expensive prices of the energy, solar water panels have all prerequisites and potential to become the prioritized alternative of renewable energy for the low income families in Armenia.