Italy

March 6, 2020
Large gap between targets and installed solar heat capacity in Europe

According to a Eurostat press release published on 23 January, renewable energy sources made up 18 % of total energy generation throughout the European Union at the end of 2018, which means the EU’s target of 20 % by the end of 2020 seems well within reach. And yet, the above chart shows...
March 1, 2020
How to reduce energy consumption in historic buildings?

Historic buildings make up 30 % of the European building stock and account for more than a third of the total energy consumption in the residential sector across the EU. However, architects and building owners are often lacking information about how to retrofit historic buildings while...
February 4, 2020
Role of life-cycle costs in NZEB projects

How much does it cost to construct, run and maintain a Nearly Zero Energy Building? What energy efficiency and renewable options could work best for a given project? Answering these and other questions is the aim of ...
December 26, 2019
Alexandra Troi: Exposition highlights successful modernisation of historic buildings

Historic buildings shape the cities in Europe. To keep them comfortable and affordable, they need to be modernised. In an interview on the SHC 2019 conference in Santiago de Chile Alexandra Troi presents an exhibition of 12 rollups with successful examples of retrofitted historic buildings. The...
November 27, 2019
Touring exhibition shows retrofits in 11 historic buildings

In October, Vienna became the first venue for the new touring exhibition Historic Buildings Energy Retrofit Atlas. At the European Congress on the Use, Management and Conservation of Buildings of Historical Value held in Austria’s capital, 12 roll-up banners showed the positive impact that...
October 3, 2019
Technology review of small-capacity absorption chillers

A new scientific paper published in July gives readers an overview of state-of-the-art absorption chillers below 50 kW of cooling capacity. The document, titled Review of small-capacity single-stage continuous absorption systems operating on binary working fluids for cooling:...
September 30, 2019
Interactive map shows locations of subsidised solar systems in Italy

Conto Termico 2.0 is a well-known incentive scheme offering financial support for renewable technology, such as solar thermal. Now, all systems subsidised by the scheme can be found on an interactive online map called...
September 4, 2019
Uncertain prospects for growth in Italy

Figures from different sources have painted a mixed picture of Italy’s solar thermal market in 2018. According to Assotermica, the country’s Association of Manufacturers of Equipment and Components for Heating Systems, the sector declined by 8 % in 2018 compared to the previous year, mainly...
September 3, 2019
Webinar: How to use facades to generate solar energy

The focus of the next IEA SHC Solar Academy webinar will be on the assessment, onsite monitoring and simulation of building-integrated solar systems. On 18 September, three experts who work for Task 56, Building Integrated Solar Envelope Systems for HVAC and Lighting, will share...
July 17, 2019
Reducing energy consumption in historic buildings

A meeting in mid-April, Copenhagen, Denmark, gave members of IEA SHC research platform Renovating Historic Buildings Towards Zero Energy (Task 59) the opportunity to meet researchers working on the EU Horizon 2020 project Robust Internal Thermal Insulation of Historic Buildings...
June 26, 2019
Attractive solar cooling market in Italy

In 2018, Italy was an attractive market for solar cooling solutions thanks to high investment subsidies by national support programme Conto Termico 2.0. Three sorption chiller manufacturers launched projects in the country last year: Maya, an Italian joint-venture with the Japanese company...
June 11, 2019
SHC experts become Mission Innovation Champions

This May, two experts in solar heating and cooling – Dr Korbinian Kramer and Christian Holter (second and fourth from right, respectively) – were presented with Mission Innovation Champion awards in Vancouver, Canada. Kramer is researcher at the Division Thermal Systems and Building...