Dear Solarthermalworld.org Reader,
The global solar cooling research community met in Rome on 14 and 15 September for the 6th
International Conference on Solar Air-Conditioning. The photo shows
Conference Chairwoman Professor Ursula Eicker from the University of
Applied Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany (forth from left in front row)
together with the international scientific committee consisting of
researchers from Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy, France, China, Austria
and Cyprus. Intensive research efforts are needed at all levels –
product development, cost reduction and system integration – to make
solar cooling a marketable, cost-competitive technology. Just a week
earlier, however, the European Commission had to admit that solar
heating and cooling has been gravely underfinanced during the 2014-2015
calls of the European R&D Programme Horizon 2020. The cumulated
budget for solar heating and cooling was EUR 4.4 million out of a total
of EUR 554 million, which means a share of less than 1 %. “The lack of
recognition at European level is entirely unacceptable, especially when
considering that heat and cold are responsible for almost half of the
final energy consumption in Europe,” says Bernd Hafner, Chair of the
European Solar Thermal Technology Platform and Head of Solar and Heat
Pump Technology Development at the German boiler manufacturer
Viessmann.
Have a good read and sunny regards
The editorial team
Conference on Solar Air-Conditioning
Horizon 2020: Good Opportunities for Solar Thermal?
Workshop TASK 53 New Generation Solar Cooling Systems