Story highlights Morocco's mosques are getting a green makeover

600 are part of the initial plan

Marrakech, Morocco (CNN) Morocco has started retrofitting 600 of its mosques with renewable energy, switching to efficient LED lighting, photovoltaic electricity, and solar water heating.

The initial plan will be completed by early 2019, with the rest of the country's mosques to follow -- 15,000 of them in total.

The project's goal is to use mosques as a starting point to raise awareness on clean energy and kickstart the diffusion of renewables among the public.

A matter of behavior

"Mosques are not a big consumer of electricity: there is some lighting, some water heating. What we want to do is inform people," Said Mouline, director of the National Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, told CNN.

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