Elves of Armenia Eco-Project Contribution to development of sustainable agriculture and eco-tourism in Armenia

Our project was established in 2018. Initially there was a 2 hectares land plot acquired. The project site is located in Great Dilijan area in Armenia – a very green and spectacular place. There is a river near to the site, also a rock for climbing and an Elves forest.

Now we establish/install infrastructure on it: water, electricity and gas supply.

• WATER: water for technical use is taken from the river, there is also a rainwater collection system (we are about to make a filter to make it also drinkable). Drinkable water is been brought from a spring source located in the nearest village (about 1 km distance).
• ELECTRICITY: we have established a small-scale solar electricity generation station with ~1.5 KW per day generation and ~1 kW storing capacity, which allows us to have light in the evening, charge phones and notebook and use some tools like grinder or drill during the day (we were very surprised identifying that it is more than enough for our daily activities). We also plan to have a hybrid system of electricity generation by using water and wind in addition to the sun power.
• HEATING/FOOD MAKING: for food making we usually use both natural gas and/or firewood. Now we buy gas from a supplier, but we plan to establish a small bio-gas generation system. For heating we use traditional iron stove burning dried firewood we collect from the nearest forest. Water for the summer shower is being heated by the sun 🙂

The project will implement certain principles of natural resource management and good green socio-economic practices: No/Minimum Waste (Separate Waste Collection, Refuse-Reuse-Recycle, etc.), Maximum Diversification, Natural Aesthetics (Integration in Nature – green building, etc.), Cooperation vs Competition, Greater Value for Natural Products vs Money, Shorter Market Links (direct networking vs longer value chains), etc.