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:
EU fund allocates EUR 108 million for C&I renewable heat projects
The first call for renewable heat projects for the industry and service sectors in Spain resulted in awarded grants of EUR 108 million. This budget will be used to support 51 solar heat projects totalling 62 MW. Within this funding line Thermal Energy Production beneficiaries receive non-repayable grants co-financed by …
Unfavourable stop and go policy in England
The Green Homes Grant scheme in England “underperformed badly”. The Public Accounts Committee came to this conclusion when reporting that only about 47,500 families upgraded their homes out of the 600,000 originally envisaged and the scheme caused GBP 50 million of administration costs – more than GBP 1,000 per home …
Cities united for climate action
Cities drive climate action – that much is clear when looking at the numbers presented in last November’s 2021 Global Covenant of Mayors Impact Report. The signatories to the covenant announced a total of 222,034 actions, committing themselves to a reduction of 76 gigatons of CO2 by 2050, an amount …
Greenpeace Bulgaria campaigns for sunny future of heating
Greenpeace Bulgaria is actively campaigning to promote solar energy for heating purposes. The Bulgarian branch of the global environmental organisation has not only published promotional material but Greenpeace also donated two solar laboratories to schools to educate students about a decarbonised economy. At the beginning of this school year in …
Solar heat to save Switzerland several CHF 100 million a year
A new roadmap called SolTherm2050 shows how much of a role solar heat combined with thermal storage could play in Switzerland in 2050. Using the Swiss EnergyScope tool, the developers of the roadmap simulated a variety of scenarios with and without solar thermal. In addition, over half of their 117-page …
Lessons learned from three years promoting SDH in the Western Balkans
The interest in solar district heating has increased significantly in Serbia since the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) started to finance prefeasibility studies for SDH plants in January 2019. Furthermore, Serbia adopted a Renewable Energy Law in April 2021 which includes an ambitious mechanism to support the implementation of renewable …
Feasibility studies on 13 solar heat plants underway in Austria
Solar district heating has turned around the steadily declining solar thermal market in Austria. As reported at the Austria Solar organisation’s annual meeting in December, solar heat was in high demand all over the country last year. Of particular note was the second quarter, in which capacity additions made a …
Molten salt: suitable heat-transfer fluid for concentrating collector fields
In a parabolic trough collector demo plant run by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Évora, Portugal, molten salt is used as a heat-transfer fluid instead of thermal oil. The advantage of molten salt is its stability at higher temperatures. Whereas thermal oil cracks at above 400 °C, molten nitrate …
Cautious optimism for the coming years in Spain
The Spanish residential solar thermal market is showing signs of resurgence. After a decline of 8 % in 2020 due to Covid-19, the market experienced 1 % growth in the first half of 2021, according to the solar thermal association ASIT. Solar PV seems an ever-harder contender, sometimes battling for …
Between three and eight million heat pumps in 2030
The German heat pump industry expects high growth rates in the next years. The latest heat transition reports predict between three and eight million heat pumps in operation in German buildings by 2030 to fulfil the climate goals (see chart below). By the end of 2020, a total of 1.4 …
Spain: Solar district heating on the starting blocks
The Spanish solar district heating market is still in its infancy. Among the 500 district heating networks in operation across the country totalling more than 1.6 GWth only seven use solar heat, according to the Association of District Heating and Cooling Companies (ADHAC). Project developers report that there are barriers …
Automated factory for polymer collectors in Norway
Inaventa Solar has now started operating a fully automated production line for solar collectors with polymer absorbers in Jevnaker, Norway. It took about 18 months from placing the order to commissioning the new, unique production equipment, on which the start-up spent around EUR 4 million. The money was raised by …
