Solar dream for Arab Salim

The Lebanese town of Arab Salim hopes solar will solve electricity woes. (Getty Images)

A Lebanese town is a step closer to its all-solar heat dream as residents of Arab Salim unanimously approve the launch of a pilot project to put ‘a solar heater in every house’.

According to a report by The Daily Star, the municipality will contribute a first payment of US$100 for each home to install the solar equipment, with the initial phase covering 100 homes in the town.

“We’re interested in the alternative energy project, because it will ease the strain of power outages on our residents,” The Star reported Mahmoud Amin Hassan, Arab Salim’s mayor saying. “We have asked the residents to fill out forms, submit documents and register theur names with us,” he continued. “There are more than 70 applicants in only three days.”

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With the company supplying the equipment also pledging a further $100 per home the outlay to residents shouldn’t exceed $400 – much less than some residents have paid to install similar systems privately – and estimates say that costs will be recouped in the space of two years.