The area of Arvi is located on the southern coast of Crete, in the eastern part of the Heraklion Regional Unit. It is characterized by its warm climate, mainly because it is surrounded to the north by high mountains that act as windbreaks against the cold or cool northern winds. Combined with its coastal location, these features create a sheltered valley with a southern orientation. Due to its warm local climate, Arvi is one of Crete’s main agricultural regions, with thousands of acres covered by greenhouses that remain productive even during winter. The settlement has significant indoor‑cooling needs, sometimes for up to nine months of the year. Its extensive agricultural activity is the reason it maintains around 400 permanent residents, despite its relatively remote location.
The settlement’s proximity to the shoreline creates the conditions for installing an open‑loop geothermal exchange unit and a hydraulic district‑cooling network. The heat rejected from indoor air‑conditioning during the summer can be used to produce domestic hot water through decentralized heat‑recovery systems. The same geothermal exchanger can also be used to meet the settlement’s heating needs during winter. The proposed solution will lead to a 40–50% reduction in electricity consumption for heating and cooling among project participants, compared to the systems currently in use.
Moreover, the abundant available solar potential can be utilized for electricity generation through photovoltaic systems, offsetting the energy consumed by users. The reduction that project participants will see on their electricity bills will be around 70%, compared to the current situation.
English (UK) 
Ελληνικά