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:
High scrappage bonus for oil boilers
Germany has seen growing demand for solar energy and other renewable heating solutions since the beginning of this year. On 1 January, the country’s Market Rebate Programme, also known as MAP, started offering large incentives for getting rid of old heating systems. It made grants of 40 % of the …
Webinar series presents cost-effective industrial solar heat solutions
Since the beginning of this year, Ata Insights has been running a monthly series of webinars about solar industrial heat (SHIP). The third webinar, titled Opportunities for solar heat in Europe, will be held at 12:00 CET on 19 March. The aim of this series is to illustrate the huge …
Possible, but tricky: carbon pricing in the building sector
Whether to include the building sector in the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) was one of the key questions discussed at a workshop in Brussels in late January. Representatives from industry associations said at the event, organised by the European Heating Industry (EHI) association, that governments should remain in charge …
SDH prefeasibility studies for Serbian cities
Renewable district heating has become a hot topic in Serbia. The conference Renewable Energy Sources in District Heating and Cooling, held at the same time as the 50th International HVAC&R Congress and Exhibition in early December in Belgrade, attracted more than 400 attendees and featured prominently in the media. The …
Energy spatial plans ban fossil fuel heating in Vienna
Austria’s capital Vienna is one of several European cities that have announced wide-ranging plans to tackle climate change. In 2014, its council published a framework strategy, called Smart City Wien, which aims for a 35 % reduction in local per-capita greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and an 80 % cut …
Role of life-cycle costs in NZEB projects
How much does it cost to construct, run and maintain a Nearly Zero Energy Building? What energy efficiency and renewable options could work best for a given project? Answering these and other questions is the aim of CRAVEzero.eu, a new, interactive online platform. It supports architects and planners during the …
The Dutch approach to transforming the heating sector
How can the Netherlands organise the transformation towards a renewable district heating sector and what role will monopoly suppliers play in this process? Finding answers to these questions was the aim of a workshop organised by the Energie-Nederland and Euroheat & Power trade associations. The event, held in The Hague …
Where you can meet renewable heating specialists over the next six months
The European Green Deal has been the new EU Commission’s most striking announcement to date. Its aim is to make Europe the first carbon-neutral continent in the world by 2050. The commission announced it would propose a European Climate Act in the first 100 days of its term, which is …
UK: “Solar heat has fallen out of awareness against PV”
When the British Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) started in November 2011, solar thermal specialists all around Europe were enthusiastic about the implementation of a pure performance-based incentive for non-domestic applications. Unfortunately, the programme did not become the expected positive role model. After a peak in 2014, the number of applications …
Why was there such a drastic drop in the demand for solar water heaters in the UK?
The British Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for homeowners was a successful programme. Between 2014 and 2019, in total 47,641 homes received funding for renewable heating systems. After a good start with high demand for solar thermal solutions in 2014 and 2015 the number of applications declined dramatically, although residential solar …
Germany: “It makes sense to invest in renewable heating now”
The bill to implement Germany’s 2030 climate protection package was passed by the country’s parliament on 15 November 2019 and came into effect at the beginning of this year. It contains a wide variety of provisions that should support the implementation of the national climate action plan, which had already …
Cities crucial to clean energy transition
The first edition of the Renewables in Cities Global Status Report was published by REN21, France, at the end of 2019. In all, 380 people, mostly volunteers, contributed to this report, supplying data on the progress of the renewable energy transition across municipalities, including information on electric generation capacity, heating …
