Thermochemical materials (TCMs) used in storage tanks show higher heat capacities than water and smaller losses over time. They are crucial to an increase in solar use among consumers and the storage of summer heat for the winter season. However, they are also more complex than their water-based counterparts, which require only heat exchangers. Conversely, TCM storage units additionally need mass exchangers to make sorbent-sorbate interaction possible. Solarthermalworld.org spoke with Benjamin Fumey, Researcher at EMPA – Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, about the need for specially designed components for TCMs.

The implementation of SHAMCI, the Solar Heating Arab Mark and Certification Initiative, could help expand the solar thermal market in both Egypt and Jordan. On 15 and 16 May 2017, a workshop held at the headquarters of RCREEE in Cairo offered market observers and stakeholders from both countries a platform to discuss requirements for implementing SHAMCI at national level. Solarthermalworld.org spoke to Lotus Shaheen, who works at SHAMCI’s secretariat, about the results of the workshop and the next steps by the regional initiative.

The annual energy yield per square metre is much higher for solar collectors than for other renewable technologies. Compared to PV, solar collectors produce, on average, three times as many kilowatt-hours. Compared to biomass or bioethanol, output is in average as much as 43 times their yield. This article considers assessments by several experts to quantify area-based renewable yields.

This June, the Indian Ministry of Power published an updated version of the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) developed by the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The ECBC has established energy efficiency standards and a solar share of hot water demand for newbuilds and refurbished homes and commercial buildings across India. But it will be the task of municipal corporations to issue notifications which mandate compliance with ECBC 2017 regulations in the construction sector in their area.

Cities and large municipalities all around the world have taken the lead in sustainability and urban planners find themselves in the important position of having to devise solutions for integrating renewable measures at local level. They receive support from the international research project Solar Energy in Urban Planning (IEA SHC Task 51). During the IEA SHC Solar Academy webinar the researchers will present selected case studies, the challenges on urban planner education and lessons learned from an interdisciplinary summer school. We invite all stakeholders to join the 1.5-hour webinar scheduled for Wednesday, 13 September 2017, from 10 to 11:30 am GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). You can register online.