The long-awaited support scheme for the utilisation of renewable energy sources in residential buildings, Green Homes, was launched on 1 December 2015 – finally, one might say, as its start had already been planned for August 2015. With the EU-funded programme, the Slovak government intends to get homeowners to transform their energy supply ecologically. Any kind of small-scale renewable technology is eligible for the programme. Not only residential homeowners will get back up to 50% of their project costs, but also associations of flat owners are eligible for financial support, whereas companies are not entitled to any incentive.

From 2 to 4 December 2015, the SHC2015 conference in Istanbul brought together 233 researchers, industry specialists and other experts on solar heating and cooling. With 14 video interviews filmed at the conference, solarthermalworld.org highlighted the trends and pinpointed the crucial issues of today's global solar heating and cooling sector. They are available for download on the solarthermalworld.org YouTube channel. 

Last December, the Spanish Advanced Technology Center for Renewable Energies, CTAER, and the Solar Concentra forum in Spain released a study which evaluated the potential of medium- and low-temperature solar thermal concentration technologies across Spain (between 100 and 400 °C). The study concludes that these technologies have already been cost-competitive with some alternatives, such as oil and gas, in the industrial and residential segments, and it provides some recommendations to promote this promising market.

ARS Glasstech based in Gujarat state in western India has become the first domestic glass mirror manufacturer for concentrating solar thermal collectors. So far, Indian manufacturers of dish collectors had been dependent on mirror imports for their high-temperature applications. The unique selling point of ARS Glasstech is its delivery of mirrors in the small sizes required to set up concentrating dishes typically used in India.

In December 2015, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) published a comprehensive report on how to establish a quality infrastructure for solar water heaters on small-scale markets. The 76-page study is part of a series on Quality Infrastructure for Renewable Energy. The report discusses established international system and collector testing standards as well as examples of implementation across selected countries.