- A green mosque has been launched in the new town of Sidi Abdellah in Algeria.
- The initiative will contribute to climate action in this North African country.
The religious authorities want to support climate action following the forest fires that claimed 38 lives in the north of Algeria in August 2022. The “green mosque” project, a place of worship constructed on a 9,000-meter square plot of land in the new settlement of Sidi Abdellah in the city’s southwest suburbs, was started by Algerian imams in this context.
The creation of this mosque will take into account environmental norms to combat drought, according to Mustapha Cheikh Zouaoui, Secretary General of the Ministry of Housing, Urbanism, and the City, who recently presided over the ceremony to lay the project’s first stone.
As a result, Algeria’s first “green mosque” will reuse wastewater for cultivation. However, solar panel installation and the construction of green walls and windows are tasks that must be finished by 2024.
The primary structure consists of a ground floor with 2,500 seats and three stories, the first of which can hold 2,500 worshipers, with the third floor being designated for women only. The minaret, which is the tallest tower and where the Muslim faithful hear the call to prayer, will be 47 meters long and have two staff quarters, each with an air conditioning system for the mosque’s personnel, as well as a conference room, a library, a Koranic school, and other amenities.
However, the installation of air-conditioning units, which consume a lot of energy, reduces the ecological interest of the project.