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:
Germany’s biggest solar-heated house nears completion
This summer, the first families will be able to move into Solardomizil III, Germany’s soon-to-be-largest showcase of residential solar thermal design. The multi-family property is being put up by FASA, a solar thermal-only construction firm founded in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The core component of the …
Energy Community aims for 0.01 % to 3 % solar share in heating sector
Vienna-based Energy Community’s launch of a Heating and Cooling Network in September 2020 was a clear indication that it wants to move beyond its current focus on renewable electricity and support sustainable heating and cooling. In early May, it published a discussion paper on district heat tariffs, in which its …
Dutch green heat tariff prompts record-size SHIP plant
Flower farmers and brothers Jeroen and Marco Mol have saved about 875,000 m3 of gas a year since starting up a new 10.5 MWth collector field in April 2020 in Nibbixwoud in the Netherlands. To implement the project, they partnered with G2 Energy, a Dutch company that provided them with …
Winners named in Helsinki Energy Challenge for carbon-neutral district heat
An expert panel has now picked four winning ideas from the 252 submitted for the Helsinki Energy Challenge, which gave stakeholders in the energy market a chance to put forward their solutions for carbon-neutral district heating in Finland’s capital by 2035. One award went to the HIVE consortium, which was …
Uncapped funding for large solar heat plants in Austria
The Austrian Climate and Energy Fund has increased the budget of its grant scheme for large solar thermal plants and is now offering EUR 45 million in 2021 and 2022 for conducting feasibility studies, putting up new systems as well as monitoring them. If the budget is exhausted, the government …
IKEA to invest EUR 4 billion in clean energy
By 2030, furniture retail giant Inter IKEA Group intends to minimise its carbon footprint and even get climate-positive while continuing to grow its business. The goals set by IKEA’s sustainability strategy People & Planet Positive published in August 2020 include the aim to generate more renewable energy than will be …
In Denmark, large heat pumps take DH market by storm
United in their drive to get rid of fossil fuel-fired heating, Denmark’s district energy providers spent years putting up a network of solar thermal systems, large ones in particular. But lately, priorities seem to have changed, with the focus now being put on heat pumps instead. Sales of pumps have …
Serbia’s first big online conference on solar energy draws 2,000 attendees
Serbia would very soon take a significant step forward by approving a new Renewable Energy Act, Zorana Mihajlović, the country’s deputy PM and mining and energy minister, said at the First Big Conference on Solar Energy in Serbia on 14 April 2021 in Belgrade. The now-passed law includes the announcement …
Hydrogen-ready – the new buzzword in the heating industry
At the ISH digital, held from 22 to 26 March, Germany’s major heating companies offered attendees plenty of new event formats, including moderated board panels, professional film inserts, and live broadcasts of their exhibits. But as those businesses presented their new products, it became obvious that the focus of this …
“7 MW solar heat plants will be a commodity in Europe in 5 to 10 years”
Viessmann, a major German provider of climate solutions for living spaces, strengthened its project development team last year, hiring Christian Stadler and four of his ex-colleagues in June 2020, after their former employer, Danish-based Arcon-Sunmark, stopped operation. As part of Viessmann, Stadler and his team are now responding to district …
SDH plant performs well in Swiss winter conditions
A new solar district heating plant in Geneva, Switzerland, is basking in the limelight of Swiss politics, with environmental minister Simonetta Sommaruga personally attending the start-up of the system at the end of February. The 816 m2 solar field consists of special high-vacuum flat panels supplying heat to Geneva’s district …
Rush on industrial solar heat in Germany
In Germany, demand for high-temperature solar process heat is growing rapidly. In the past months, Soliterm, a western German provider of turnkey solar process heat (SHIP) solutions, has conducted an ever-greater number of prefeasibility studies in several sectors, especially in the food industry. Interest grew as the government introduced a …
