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The Romtherm, the international exhibition for heating, cooling and air conditioning, has become a meeting point for solar thermal system suppliers in Romania. Installation companies in the field of heating, cooling and renewable energies have greatly appreciated the trade fair. The 17^th Romtherm opened its doors in the capital city of Bucharest at the end of April, with 92 exhibitors on an area of 7,000 m². According to the organiser, Romexpo, the fair has attracted approximately 4,000 visitors.
Photo: Mihai Vintila

This presentation was created by Professor Jane Davidson of the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Minnesota. It focuses on where potential growth in the solar thermal market could be in the US and what new technologies could help advance solar thermal.

Two solar water heating systems – one at an old people’s home and the other at an orphanage (photo) – started operating this March thanks to an initiative by SESSA members Holms and Friends, and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA). Together with another system completed last year, the installations are part of an ADA pledge in support of the SOLTRAIN (Southern African Solar Thermal Training and Demonstration Initiative) project, which is coordinated by Professor Dieter Holm and Henning Holm of Holms and Friends (formerly Omnibus Engineering). Promised are more than 50 solar water heating systems (see http://www.solarthermalworld.org/node/3466).
Photo: SESSA

This report was written by the Laboratory for Energy-efficiency in Buildings (LabEEE), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It focuses on solar water thermal heating and rainwater towers that were installed in affordable housing for low-income citizens of Brazil.

The factory for sale in Austria is a complete and new production facility for standard flat plate collectors. “The buyer will be able to manufacture and sell high-quality collector modules without any delay,” the worldwide shown ad explains. The production capacity of the absorber and collector production line in three shifts was 54,000 m² and could be extended further.

This report evaluates the progress of the SOLTRAIN project in Southern Africa in the period 2009-2011. The project’s initiation was covered by solarthermalworld.org back in 2009, and is available here.

This guide on solar thermal water heating for consumers in residential settings comes from the North Carolina Solar Center. It covers the benefits of solar thermal water heating, the different kinds and parts of systems, and how to get one installed.

During the revision of the Energy Star specifications, solar water heaters were in danger of losing the label because of their long financial payback times (see http://www.solarthermalworld.org/node/3217). The third draft of the revised requirements, which was published on 19 March, has now put an end to the uncertainty: the EPA has included solar water heaters even in its most recent document. A relief for all solar thermal producers – albeit they still criticise the high solar share required.

This report compares experiences of solar thermal technology for the five benchmark tram depots of the TramStore21 project. For the project, five European partners – from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France and Italy – have worked since 2008 at pooling existing best practices and know-how for the construction of four benchmark tram depots.

This case study comes from the New Mexico Energy Department. It looks at how the Magdalena School District installed solar thermal water heating systems in their schools with federal stimulus money.

The Magdalena school is small, with a 124,000 square foot building and about 450 children. The schools hot water was being supplied by 2 propane fueled boilers, one at 600,000 BTUs and one at 1,000,000 BTUs. Now, the school has two 20-gallon heat exchangers, both supplied with water heated by four solar thermal panels, saving the school around 20% on its energy costs.