European Copper Institute (ECI) contributes to political debate, directly and through stakeholder platforms, sharing its expertise of copper-based products and technical building services and their contribution to the Commission goal of a carbon-neutral building stock. ECI has a considerable knowledge base and multidisciplinary expertise in technology, chemical policy and life cycle relating to copper and its applications. It also has established outreach channels aimed at supporting its advocacy towards the EU institutions.
Solarthermalworld.org was initiated by ECI in 2008 with the aim of providing stakeholders from research, public and private sector all around the globe with first-class information about solar heating and cooling to stimulate market growth. The ECI has supported the hosting of the website as well as the content gathering continuously since 2008.
Please see below our most recent articles:
Demand for clean space heating rebounds in Germany
The German solar heat market is back on a growth path. In a joint press release published on 4 February, the BSW Solar and BDH associations said the newly installed collector area increased by 26 % in 2020, amounting to 643,000 m2 (450 MWth) or about 83,000 new solar thermal …
Disappointing solar thermal support policy in Romania
Romania’s government intends to spend RON 750 million (about EUR 150 million) on clean district heat over the next two years. But solar thermal is not eligible for the EU-funded programme, according to government spokesperson Catalina Decolare. Only centralised heating solutions sourcing biomass, biogas or geothermal are being considered. On …
Up to 500,000 home renovations in France by 2021
The #SolariseHeat initiative has helped Europe’s solar thermal associations push for better funding conditions, Edwige Porcheyre, Project Coordinator at French Enerplan, said at the Pushing #SolariseHeat Forward online workshop hosted by Solar Heat Europe in mid-November 2020. Enerplan’s efforts, plus the pledge that Solar Heat Europe drew up in July, …
Quick Check BIOSOL: New tool helps utilities make the right choices
As early as November 2020, national association Austria Solar put a new decision-making tool called Quick Check BIOSOL on its website. At a German-language webinar following the upload, Austria Solar’s Managing Director Roger Hackstock then explained what the tool does and how it works. In essence, the program helps plant …
Denmark, Netherlands and Cyprus: Fastest-growing ST markets in 2019
Europe’s solar heating and cooling markets keep growing, Brussels-based Solar Heat Europe said in a 21 December press release. At the end of 2019, about 10.4 million solar thermal systems totalling 37 GWth of capacity were in operation across the European Union and Switzerland, 3 % more than a year …
Global thermal storage capacity to triple by 2030
There is a broad consensus that solar thermal storage has the potential to be an important driver of decarbonising energy systems around the world. Thermal energy storage, or TES for short, denotes technologies that make it possible to decouple energy generation from demand or move demand for heat to periods …
Five pathways for decarbonising heating and cooling
“If we intend to take the Paris Agreement seriously, we will have to accelerate the deployment of renewable technologies in heating and cooling.” This statement by REN21 Executive Director Rana Adib during a webinar in late November explains why the organisation has just published another report titled Renewable Energy Policies …
Construction of largest Swedish SDH plant with parabolics
In November, construction began on what will be Sweden’s largest district heating system based on solar concentrating technology. This 3,000 m2 field of parabolic trough collectors (1.5 MWth) is part of a EUR 1.6 million demonstration project that will receive 48 % of its funding from Sweden’s Energy Agency and …
Great advocates join board of Brussels-based SHE
Over the next two years, Solar Heat Europe (SHE) will be represented by both new and re-elected board members. While Costas Travasaros, CEO of Greek-based Prime Laser, will continue to serve as president, the organisation’s general assembly, held on Friday, 4 December, also voted in fresh faces, making the new …
Booklet describes 28 Positive Energy Districts
By 2025, the European Union aims to have supported the design, deployment and replication of 100 Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) through its Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan. PEDs represent a new and complex approach that requires the involvement of a large number of stakeholders from municipal governments. To help cities …
Poland shifts away from coal-fired district heating
Poland has about 400 district heating grids and most of them are still hard-coal fired (80 %). According to EuroHeat & Power’s country profile, 16.5 million of the country’s residents are connected to these grids. To improve air quality, which includes replacing coal with other energy sources, Poland has recently …
Financial and environmental benefits of solar heat pumps
As a source of energy for brine heat pumps, a PV-thermal collector field is well suited to reducing power demand in existing and to-be-renovated single-family homes, researchers at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, also known as ZHAW, have found. They compared combinations of PVT units and heat pumps with …
