Alonso Miguel presents an initiative for the free giving of intelligent electric water heaters on Graciosa

May 31, 2022

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, presided yesterday at the public session for the presentation of the campaign of giving intelligent electric water heaters on Graciosa island, within the scope of the LIFE IP CLIMAZ project, which took place on the Biblioteca Municipal de Santa Cruz da Graciosa.

For Alonso Miguel, “the climate change’s effects have already been clearly felt in the Azores, especially regarding the higher frequency and intensity with which certain extreme weather phenomena occur”.

“The way and severity in which the Region will be affected by the impacts of climate change will depend on our capacity to mitigate and, above all, to adapt to this new reality, which is unavoidable,” said the governor.

Faced with this scenario, Alonso Miguel considered that the LIFE IP CLIMAZ project, coordinated by the Regional Secretariat for the Environment and Climate Change, “is a fundamental tool for the operationalisation of the Regional Programme for Climate Change (PRAC), which will guarantee a global investment in the Region of 19.8 million euros, over 10 years”.

The initiative presented yesterday, which had the participation of the Regional Director for Energy, Joana Rita, foresees the free attribution of around 1,500 electric water heaters to Graciosa families to promote the substitution of water heating equipment based on butane gas in an investment of over 650,000 euros, to be executed by the Regional Directorate of Energy.

Graciosa island has exceptional conditions to implement a measure of this nature, since, according to Alonso Miguel, “it only really makes sense to promote the substitution of this equipment by electric equipment, if the energy produced comes mainly from renewable sources, as already happens on Graciosa, where renewable energies represent around 65% of the energy produced”.

“This is a measure that will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of butane gas, promoting simultaneously the use and efficient management of the high levels of renewable energy verified on Graciosa, with the benefit, in this case, of reducing the island’s dependence on butane gas imports,” said the governor.