Intersolar North America

The Solar Heating and Cooling Programme of the International Energy Agency (IEA SHC) is planning to start its own annual conference in 2012. The conference name SHC has been chosen in reference to the long-established research programme IEA SHC. The full name is International Conference on Solar Heating and Cooling for Buildings and Industry. The 1^st SHC will take place in San Francisco from 9 to 11 July 2012 – in cooperation with the Intersolar North America (10 to 12 July 2012).

Dr. Alexander Zhivov of the US Army Corps of Engineers presented the recently developed US Army Guide on Central Solar Water Heating Systems at the Intersolar North America conference in the middle of July 2011 (see attached presentation). The speaker is Senior Principal Investigator at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the US Army and Project Manager of the Solar Guide. The 321-page study analyses the potential and technical feasibility of domestic hot water production in US Army facilities, such as barracks, dining facilities, hospitals or gyms.
Photo: US Army

Solar water heater systems in the state of Wisconsin: The number of commercial systems made a big jump in 2009, whereas the market for residential systems stagnated. The photo shows a collector field on the roof of a high-school swimming pool.
Photo: Focus on Energy

Another transatlantic solar partnership: Adam Farrell, CEO of North American solar thermal importer and system supplier Sunmaxx Solar, and Klaus Mischensky, CEO of Austrian collector manufacturer Geo-Tec Solar Industries, announced the creation of a joint-venture at the Intersolar North America in San Francisco in July 2010.
Photo: Sunmaxx

The New York Solar Thermal Roadmap is ready for implementation: 130 stakeholders teamed up to form The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC), which was to develop a state-wide solar vision and an action plan to realize it. The consortium's objectives are ambitious: The installed solar thermal capacity is to increase from today's total of 8 MW (11,400 m²) to 2 GW (28.6 million m²) by 2020. This corresponds to an annual growth rate of 57%.

“A coordinated effort is needed to develop the solar thermal market in North America,” Lucio Mesquita, Head of Thermosol Consulting in Canada, said during his presentation about “Solar Cooling in North America” at the Intersolar North America in San Francisco in July.
Photo: Thermosol Consulting