The Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary rehabilitation centre.
In the heart of the winter, Archipelagos continues the construction of the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary rehabilitation centre of the on the island of Lipsi. Despite the few available funds that originate from individuals and organisations who support Archipelagos’ conservation actions, in addition to self-funding, we aim to complete the construction of the rehabilitation centre for marine mammals and turtles within the coming months.
There is significant need for the creation of several equipped rehabilitation centres throughout the Aegean and the Mediterranean, as the increasing impact of humans leads to an increase in incidents of rare marine species that need medical care. The Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary will become a unique rehabilitation centre in the Mediterranean, as it will be able to offer expert veterinary care in a natural environment away from human pressures. Our goal is that it becomes an example of best practice encouraging the creation of several equivalent rehabilitation centres in Greece and the Mediterranean.
Today we would like to share with you the completed installation of the photovoltaic unit that now covers 100% of the predicted energy needs of the sanctuary building during at least the first phase of operation in 2020 – 2021. The inherent difficulties of having the sanctuary building located in an area off the island’s electricity grid only urged the team to design a completely sustainable building with zero carbon footprint. The building now has an autonomous energy supply, heating and cooling, and water supply.
Complementary to the photovoltaic unit, there is on site an electrical generator and a biodiesel converter (which converts used cooking oil to bio-diesel). These will operate as a backup for tasks which require higher amounts of electricity. The generators will run on biodiesel from recycled cooking oil.
We would like to thank Booking Cares from booking.com and DER Touristik, which supported and still support the process for the construction of the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary.
