Fact Sheets

The energy demand for air-conditioning is growing faster than any other energy consumption in buildings. The main share of the projected growth for space cooling comes from emerging economies and will more than triple by 2050 to 6,000 TWh/a globally.
 

Poster presented at S-@ccess, International Conference on Solar Technologies and Hybrid Mini-Grids to improve energy access, Spain, April 26-28, 2023.

The modern building designed in 1958 by Oscar Niemeyer is an architectural heritage, limiting interventions on facades. The electric  lighting control and automation system optimizes light integration and reduces energy use, while improving user satisfaction. The building makes good use of daylight, thanks to the laminar shape; most offices are located in east façade to prevent glare and overheating.
 

Four types of LED lighting with high-resolution, luminaire-level controls and automated roller shades were evaluated in a 3700 m2 Living Laboratory in New York City. The innovative systems delivered significant lighting energy savings with enhanced indoor environmental quality and comfort.
 

At this office building in the University of Brasilia daylighting is the main lighting source thanks to the building shape, the internal courtyard, and well-designed solar protections. Daylighting and view out with high quality improve user´s satisfaction in the workplaces. Energy use for lighting is high and it could be exploited using electric lighting controls.
 

In this long-term pilot study at Norconsult AS, a horizontal light pipe (HLP) was used to bring daylight to the back part of the office. HLP brought up to 400 lux of natural light to the desk closest to the back part of the office, increased user appreciation of the space, and saved energy.
 

At Slagelse Psychiatric Hospital, they apply a simple strategy in an attempt to improve the well-being of staff and patients. In patient rooms,
daylight and three downlights with a warm colour appearance provide sufficient light during the day. At night, two downlights reduce light levels and colour temperature to help create a calmer atmosphere.
 

In a representative Amazon building daylight use and solar control elements are examined. Occupants are satisfied with the indoor space, despite some changes done to the original design. Computational simulations suggested good daylighting design overall, with little risk for  lare occurrence, as in the intention of the original design.
 

A low-cost manually controlled system, consisting of two motorised roller blinds and six dimmable and tunable led-based luminaires, was installed in a “Living lab” at the Abazia San Lorenzo ad Septimum to investigate the integration of artificial lighting system with shading systems and to guarantee user satisfaction, while energy savings were achieved by simply training the users.
 

A study of integrated lighting at a research and education centre reveals that a highly energyefficient building could be further improved through relatively simple measures. Such measures include shades that automatically return to a fully open state at the end of a day, a manual on-switch for electric lighting and better light sensor positions.
 

At the Fraunhofer IBP in Stuttgart, large scale micro-optical panels were integrated into glazing units and integrated into the upper part of the façade of a lab room. The evaluation of the performance of the lighting conditions and the energy related parameters were compared to a second identical room, with blinds in the upper part of the façade.

At the Fraunhofer IBP in Stuttgart, large scale light-emitting panels were integrated into glazing units and integrated into the upper part of the façade of a lab room. The evaluation of the performance of the lighting conditions and the energy related parameters were compared to a second identical room, with conventional lighting.
 

Monitored, full-scale, outdoor mockups were used to finetune design and control system details then, in the final building, performance was verified with monitored data prior to occupancy.
 

At the DIAL headquarters, an intelligent building was created with the help of modern technology. The aim was to find solutions that satisfy the needs of people, employees and visitors, without staging technical solutions as an end in themselves. Technology and architecture go hand in hand in a holistic concept. The result is an energy-efficient building with the highest standards of comfort and aesthetics.
 

At IKEA Kaarst daylight was brought into the exhibition area. This, combined with clever integration of electric lighting, has improved the shopping experience for customers and left the mark on a bunch of enthusiastic employees.
 

The Spark, a new office building Lund, Sweden, combines abundant daylight with new LED ceiling panels delivering cooler light in the morning, and warmer dimmed light during the afternoon. The system was appreciated by four office workers. It seemed also to increase their alertness, mostly when access to daylight was limited.
 

A novel, operable shade left a positive impression on office workers by opening up views to the outdoors and increasing daylight and comfort compared to conventional shades. 80% of occupants were satisfied with the dual-zone shades. Cooling and lighting energy consumption were reduced by 20%.
 

Daylight responsive lighting controls, electrical lighting, user responses and the luminous conditions were evaluated in a Green Star and WELL platinum certified office building in Brisbane Australia. Combining smart technologies with POE surveys delivered practical solutions to mitigate issues of glare and improve individual control.
 

In this office building, a lighting retrofit with Human Centric Lighting (HCL) system is provided..The HCL can fully change brightness and colour temperature. Based on ZPLC (Zero Power Line Communications) technology, it takes less than three months to complete the replacement and commissioning, without changing the original power line. After renovation, the luminous environment was greatly improved, while achieving more than 60% energy saving compared to the previous lighting system.

In National Aquatics Center, daylight was brought into the competition area. Combined with highpower LED and intelligent control lighting system, this venue improves the race experience for athletes and meets the requirements for various competition modes in winter and summer.
 

In CABR NZEB office building, the integrated solutions for daylight and electric lighting have improved the luminous environment and achieved
nearly 75% energy-saving rate.

A first study of the dynamic LED lighting installed in a section of the rehabilitation centre allows for comparison with the old fluorescent lighting and suggests that patients and staff experience better sleep under the new system that meets the target values for morning and evening circadian lighting suggested by state-of-the art research.

In the Bartenbach R&D building a high level of daylight integration is realized while maintaining glare and heat protection. In combination with workstation-zoned LED lighting with color temperature and intensity control adapted to the time of day, the occupants experience a lighting environment that provides both visual comfort and biologically activating effects satisfying individual preferences. To exploit the energy effects of integral concepts, the heating and ventilation trades are also controlled in addition to the day light and artificial lighting trades.

A POE assessment was carried out in a Green Star commercial o?ce building in Brisbane Australia. Lighting strategies were evaluated which included observations of user behaviour and surveys. The combination of occupancy sensors, side-lighting and manual blind shades delivered a pragmatic solution for indoor lighting in shared environment, with room to improve energy e?ciency and comfort.

A range of daylight and lighting design strategies has been applied in the IDOM office building. The design is focused on the performance and well being of the workers as well as reduction of the electric lighting. Simultaneously the prevention of solar gains with blinds and a double skin façade has been successfully implemented.
 

Low-emittance windows were replaced with variable-tint, electrochromic windows in forty private offices. 85% of the occupants preferred the electrochromic windows, citing increased view and visual comfort.
 

A series of daylight and electric light strategies were proposed in a care home in Brussels (Belgium) to improve the visual comfort and circadian wellbeing of residents. The strategies were based on 3D simulations evaluating the quality and quantity of luminous exposures over time in several residents’ living spaces.
 

The goal of IEA SHC Task 65 is to focus on innovations for affordable, safe and reliable solar cooling systems for the Sunbelt regions worldwide. This will require a combination of cost reduction, system simplification and stimulation of market conditions through policies.

This is part of a series of fact sheets meant to facilitate and enhance the use of the European standard EN 16883:2017 Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance of historic buildings.

This is part of a series of fact sheets meant to facilitate and enhance the use of the European standard EN 16883:2017 Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance
of historic buildings. This particular fact sheet presents other guidelines and standards that can be used as a supplement to EN 16883.
 

This is part of a series of fact sheets meant to facilitate and enhance the use of the European standard EN 16883:2017 Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance of historic buildings.This text presents tools and guidelines for life cycle analysis (LCA) and life cycle cost (LCC).

This is part of a series of fact sheets meant to facilitate and enhance the use of the European standard EN 16883:2017 Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance
of historic buildings. This particular fact sheet presents literature that provides exctended background and more in depth knowledge for the different parts of the standard.

This is part of a series of fact sheets meant to facilitate and enhance the use of the European standard EN 16883:2017 Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance
of historic buildings. This particular fact sheet provides information about methods for assessing heritage values in historic buildings: Methods, approaches and practices for heritage value assessment and applied conservation principles.

This is part of a series of fact sheets meant to facilitate and enhance the use of the European standard EN 16883:2017 Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance of historic buildings.

The Performance Check (PC) method can be used for a simple check of the collector array performance of a solar thermal plant. It has been proposed recently as an input to a new ISO standard. This fact sheet provides an application of the PC method to large collector arrays. The goal of this fact sheet is to evaluate the methodology and provide practical insights for the application of the PC method.

Overview on different approaches for supervisory control strategies, deciding on operating modes and set points for the controls of the different plants and components integrated in solar thermal systems.

Overview on different approaches for the control of the heat distribution networks in case of the integration of large-scale solar thermal systems, and different possibilities for the reduction of the operating temperatures in DH systems.

Overview on the control of large-scale thermal plants, limited to plants feeding into DH networks as well as their key components, i.e. the actual collector circuit and the heat exchanger between primary and secondary circuit.

This fact sheet presents three in situ test methods for solar collectors and solar collector arrays, namely In situ Collector Certification (ICC), Performance Check for Collector Arrays (PC) and Dynamic Collector Array Test (D-CAT). A comparison is made regarding their scopes and use cases, methodologies and outcomes, which could serve as a decision-making aid for stakeholders in selecting the procedure that best suits their needs. The analysis shows that the methods do not contradict, but rather complement each other.

Procedures to give power output guarantees for large collector fields and heat exchangers
Procedures to check power output guarantees for large collector fields and heat exchangers.

Subtask A “Network analysis and integration” focuses on the overall aspects of district heating and cooling networks with integrated solar thermal (ST) technologies. Particularly important are the cases in which the solar share is such to significantly influence the operation of the network and the other heat/cold supply units. In the present factsheet, the best-practice examples collected in the factsheet A-D1.1 are analyzed and compared.

This publication of IEA SHC Task 55 shows 18 best practice examples of Solar District Heating (SDH) systems in six countries worldwide. Additional systems are described in the brochure “Solar Heat for Cities” and in the factsheets A-D3.1 and A-D3.2
 

Solar thermal (ST) energy is one of the few renewable heat sources that is available almost everywhere and can bring multiple benefits to district heating and cooling (DHC) networks (on an environmental and systemic level) with very low operation costs and risks. However, the current share of ST in DHC networks is almost zero on a global scale.

The present factsheet summarizes the study ”Comparative Analysis and Design of Solar Based Parabolic Trough - ORC Cogeneration Plant for a Commercial Centre” performed by the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain) and published in 2020 [1]. Two novel solar based PTC-ORC cogeneration systems, producing power and cooling, were pre-designed, considering commercially available pieces of equipment, to cover the annual energy demands of a commercial centre located in Zaragoza (Spain).

Guidelines for design of seasonal pit heat storages.

The factsheet gives a high-level definition of designing solar thermal systems for district heating. In addition, modules are introduced which can be used for modelling systems and finally, methods for estimating energy yield and costs of systems are described.

This publication of IEA SHC Task 55 describes the market development of Solar District Heating and Cooling in seven countries. Within country report presentations during the eight taskmeetings, the market developments in the participating countries were presented and discussed in the international expert group and the information is summarized in this factsheet.
 

This factsheet focuses on large-scale hot water storage technologies adopted to integrate large shares of ST in DHC systems. After an overview of role and integration schemes of large storage systems in existing and future-oriented DHC, the state of the art is described and the highlights of international applications are reported, including a comparison of the different technologies in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Recommendations for an automatic monitoring process of solar thermal systems are given - starting from sensors to data acquisition, data storage, computation of benchmarks and fault detection.

Report B2: Here is a one page fact sheet providing many design guidelines for PVT collectors, for covers, encapsulant, rear covers, absorbers, heat transfer medium, insulation, casing, air vents, fluid outlets, sealing, and junction boxes.

This factsheet focuses on the integration hydraulics and control of central ST systems in DHC. The first part gives an overview of the typical integration concepts and operating modes implemented in the state of the art. The second part illustrates general aspects of the integration of heat pumps to achieve higher shares of ST and describes recent projects: two implementation projects (Crailsheim and Salzburg-Lehen), and one feasibility study performed by the Technische Universität Dresden.

This factsheet focuses on the integration hydraulics and control of central ST systems in DHC. The first part gives an overview of decentral feed-in: international state of the art (including comparison and selection criteria of the different integration schemes), hydraulics and components, details of the return-to-supply scheme (challenges, pump operation, control). The second part describes concepts for the secondary-side integration of ST without feed-in. The third part illustrates selected best-practice examples in Austria (Wasserwerke Andritz and Berlinerring in Graz) and Sweden (Ystad).

ALMABuild is an open library based on MATLAB SIMULINK for the dynamic modelling of a building, To facilitate the creation of the model ALMABuild uses a series of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) by means of which all the properties of each building element and each thermal zone can be defined. GUIs facilitate the use of ALMABuild also for users without skills in the use of SIMULINK: the system is able to create automatically the SIMULINK model of the building simply starting from the input data. The import of the envelope geometry from SketchUp is supported. Compatibility with the CARNOT library and native integration with MATLAB Toolboxes.

CarnotUIBK for MATLAB Simulink is a tool for dynamic building energy simulation based on the MATLAB object oriented language and Simulink. It bases on the Toolbox CARNOT. A GUI for a comfortable handle of the input data and the results is available. Import of different kind of data formats is supported. Import functionality for gbXML (B.I.M.), Excel and PHPP are available. A Toolbox for Simulink is provided with the a range of physical calculation models, i.e. hygrothermal models and advanced air flow models. The use of existing CARNOT models is supported.

This set of EnergyPlus and Matlab models can be used as a reference for evaluating solar active systems using simulations. The model set contains the EnergyPlus implementations of the IEA SHC Task 56 typical reference office (see Deliverable DC1) and a Matlab/EnergyPlus implementation of the air-to-air heat pump and façade integrated PV model (see Deliverable DC2). This model set was developed by Samuel de Vries and Roel Loonen from Eindhoven University of Technology.

DYMOLA simulation environment was used to develop the numerical model of a typical office space using models from the Modelica library and Buildings library. Here infiltration, ventilation, shadings, internal gains and occupancy schedules are characterized as reported in Deliverable DC1 of IEA SHC Task 56.

PHPP is a Design Tool for Passive Houses and renovations with Passive House components. PHPP accurately predicts the energy consumption of a building on monthly basis and includes algorithms for HVAC such as heat pumps systems and RE (ST, PV). A new worksheet is developed to calculate the PV self consumption per month having as basis the PHPP. In addition an algorithm was developed to calculate the monthly electricity consumption of a heat pump having as input the annual electricity consumption from PHPP ‘HP’ sheet.

TRNSYS simulation software was used to develop the numerical model of a typical office space. Here infiltration, ventilation, shadings, internal gains and occupancy schedules are characterized as reported in Deliverable DC1 of IEA SHC Task 56.

Solar thermal (ST) energy is one of the few renewable heat sources that is available almost everywhere and can bring multiple benefits to district heating and cooling (DHC) networks (on an environmental and systemic level) with very low operation costs and risks. However, the current share of ST in DHC networks is almost zero on a global scale.

Due to their ability to distribute large amounts of renewable energy, District Heating Networks (DHN) are expected to exhibit a considerable development in the coming years. The ENRSIM software, cofounded by the French Renewable Energy Agency (ADEME), aims at providing a simple tool to size DHN production plants with renewable production units and storage.
 

Large-scale solar thermal systems are a cost-efficient technology to provide renewable heat. The rapid market growth in the last decade has been concentrated on a small number of countries, with the outstanding position of Denmark followed by China, Germany and Austria. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the market and common technological solutions for large-scale solar thermal systems in these countries.

The brochure contains very useful info charts and general information about large scale SDH as well as several case studies of SDH installations in Denmark, China, Serbia, Austria, France, Latvia and Germany.

Investigation of measured long-term field performance in relation to standardized collector test information and tools/models for annual performance prediction at different operating conditions and field designs.

Solar radiation data is necessary for the design of solar heating systems and used to estimate the thermal performance of solar heating plants. Compared to global irradiance, the direct beam component shows much more variability in space and time. The global radiation split into beam and diffuse radiation on collector plane is important for the evaluation of the performance of different collector types and collector field
designs.
 

Solar collectors are the core components of solar district heating plants. Annual solar heat yield of solar heating plants on average is around 400-500 kWh/m2 in Denmark. Most solar collectors in the large solar district heating plants in Denmark are ground-mounted flat plate collectors. Arcon-Sunmark A/S is the main manufacturer of the large flat plate collectors for district heating in Denmark. Arcon-Sunmark A/S has installed more than 80% of the world’s large solar heating plants connected to district heating networks.

By the end of 2017, solar heating plants with a total surface of more than 1.3 million m2 were in operation in Denmark. Most solar collectors in the existing solar heating plants are typically flat plate collectors (FPC).
 

District Heating required annually 600 TWh in the European Union and represents more than 10% of the EUs heat demand. Fossil fuels are the major source for heat production. Approximately 5000 district heating grids in the EU are operated by burning fossil fuels valued at € 18 billion (600 TWh) and emitting more than 150 million tons of CO2 emissions every year.
 

After sale costs of solar thermal systems represent a significant part of the overall costs of the delivered solar heat. In practice, high stagnation loads have a strong impact on the maintenance efforts, which impair the cost-efficiency and generally the attractiveness of solar thermal installations. To prevent high temperature loads in solar circuits, different approaches are usually pursued. Most of them are based on additional cooling systems or collector draining strategies (drain back), which require more complex hydraulic installations and control technologies respectively.

China's market demand for solar energy products vary greatly, resulting in a large number of product models of production enterprises; large number types of the raw material, which leads to the high cost of raw material procurement, causes great difficulties to the production organization. An effective way to reduce the production and procurement cost is to reduce the number of products, so as to reduce the number of raw materials. The reduction of support materials and installation costs by prefabricated mounting brackets is another way to reduce the cost of the balcony installation solar system.

Solar thermal systems are state-of-the-art devices to cover part of the heat demand for the domestic hot water supply and space heating of buildings. Depending on the system design and the heat demand more or less intensive stagnation periods can occur. Usually high stagnation loads require a complex hydraulic system design, affect the operational safety and lead to high maintenance efforts, which impair the cost-efficiency and the general attractiveness of solar thermal installations.

Large collector fields are increasingly being integrated into district heating systems. Due to the operation mode of these networks, the solar system must provide the desired supply temperature. Therefore, knowledge of thermal-hydraulic behavior and energy efficiency are very important for planning, operation and control. The study presents the investigation of two large-scale solar collector fields in Chemnitz (Germany).

This document lists the minimum information needed for the definition of a reference system. A reference system is a solar thermal system serving as benchmark for any other solar thermal system having the same fractional energy savings with respect to the levelized costs of heat (LCoH).

This document describes the reference drain-back domestic hot water system for multi-family houses in France. It lists the minimum information needed for the definition of a reference system. A reference system is a solar thermal system serving as benchmark for any other solar thermal system having the same fractional energy savings and the same scheme (drainback for multifamily buildings) with respect to the levelized costs of heat (LCoH).

Task 54 has permitted to investigate installation costs among installers by distributing questionnaires in Austria, Switzerland, France, Romania, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. Besides, complementary data have been provided by German Authorities to deepen this database. From this work, several indicative lessons can be presented in terms of costs.

Task 54 investigated obstacles in installation of solar-thermal systems and developed recommendations for improvement of the installation process by evaluating respective questionnaires from installation companies in Austria, Switzerland, France, Romania, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany. From feedback by 23 installers from 7 countries, recommendations and wishes for working with solar thermal systems can be deduced. This info sheet provides insight on soft factors that influence the day-to-day business of solar thermal installation and highlights recommendations for a positive transformation of future installation routines. The info sheet is a direct follow-up to info sheets D 1 “Overview of Installation Costs” (http://task54.iea-shc.org/info-sheets).

This document describes the reference solar combi system for domestic hot water preparation and space heating in multifamily houses (MFH) in Germany. The system is modelled with TRNSYS to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating as well as the substituted fuel provided by the combi system. Using these results the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) for the substituted fuel is calculated using eq. 1 and the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation, fuel and electricity costs. System model and cost assumptions are based on [1] and [2].

The EU-funded FROnT project (Fair Renewable Heating Options and Trade) aimed at promoting a level playing field for Renewable Heating and Cooling (RHC) in Europe, and at developing strategies for its greater deployment. It improved transparency about costs of heating and cooling options (using RHC or fossil fuels), RHC support schemes and end-user key decision factors. This knowledge has helped towards developing Strategic Policy Priorities for RHC to be used by public authorities in designing and implementing better support mechanisms. It also supported the industry in engaging more effectively their prospective clients. The project was run by eleven organisations from across the continent and was active from 01/04/14 until 31/12/16. It was funded by the European Commission’s IEE programme.

Reviving solar thermal is not only a matter of cost reduction but also one of visibility. New marketing strategies and ways to inform about the technology are crucial elements for strengthening the market for solar water heating. This info sheet presents the recently launched Heat Changers campaign as showcase project for innovative communication and promotion activities.

In the framework of the IEA-SHC Task 54 appeared the need of assessing the costs of the heat produced by solar thermal systems over their life time in order to compare different designs and technological solutions with one another. The levelized cost of heat (LCOH), a measure based on the concept of levelized cost of energy, widespread in the electrical power sector, was chosen. This info sheet builds on the work of the FRoNT project [1] who laid the foundations for the application of the method to any heating technology. It aims at detailing the methodology to calculate the levelized cost of the heat substituted by solar thermal energy. Furthermore, an extension of the concept is suggested in order to estimate the cost of the heat generated by the entire solar assisted heating system, or the conventional sources of heat supply.

This document describes the reference conventional system for domestic hot water preparation and space heating in a single-­family house in Austria. The system is modelled with TSol to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating. Using this result the levelized costs of heat (LCOH) for the reference conventional system in Austria is calculated using Equation 1, with the reference costs for the investment of the system (including installation costs), fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the reference conventional system for domestic hot water preparation and space heating in a multi-­-family house in Austria. The system is modelled with TSol to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating. Using this result the levelized costs of heat (LCOH) for the reference conventional system in Austria is calculated using Equation 1, with the reference costs for the investment of the system (including installation costs), fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the reference solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system for domestic hot water preparation in a single-family house in Austria. The system is modelled with TSol to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy, as well as the substituted fuel provided by the SDHW system, which are needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating. Using this result the levelized costs of heat (LCOH) for the substituted fuel is calculated using equation 1, with the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation costs, fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the reference solar combined (combi) system for domestic hot water preparation and space heating in Austria. The system is modelled with TSol to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy, as well as the substituted fuel provided by the combisystem, which are needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating. Using this result the levelized costs of heat (LCOH) for the substituted fuel is calculated using Equation 1, with the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation costs, fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the reference solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system for domestic hot water preparation in a multi-­-family house (MFH) in Austria. The system is modelled with TSol to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy, as well as the substituted fuel provided by the SDHW system, which are needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating. Using this result the levelized costs of heat (LCOH) for the substituted fuel is calculated using Equation 1, with the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation costs, fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the conventional reference system for domestic hot water preparation and space heating in single-­-family houses in Germany. The system is modelled with TRNSYS to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating. Using this result the levelized costs of heating (LCOH) for the conventional reference system for Germany is calculated using Eq. 1 and the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation costs, fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the reference solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system in Germany. The system is modelled with TRNSYS to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy needed to provide the required domestic hot water as well as the substituted fuel provided by the SDHW system. Using this result the levelized costs of heating (LCOH) for the substituted fuel is calculated using Eq. 1 and the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation costs, fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes the reference solar combisystem for domestic hot water preparation and space heating in single-­family houses in Germany. The system is modelled with TRNSYS to calculate the fuel consumption and electric energy needed to provide the required domestic hot water and space heating as well as the substituted fuel provided by the combisystem. Using this result the levelized costs of heating (LCOH) for the substituted fuel is calculated using Eq. 1 and the reference costs for the investment of the system, installation costs, fuel and electricity costs.

This document describes a Swiss reference solar domestic hot water (SDHW) system for multi-­-family houses that uses a gas burner as auxiliary. The system is modelled in the simulation software Polysun [1] with template No. 8a that was adapted for a larger heat demand of a multi-­-family house. The reference system is taken from [2]. The costs for investment and maintenance of the gas burner (the device) are allocated to the room heating and are not taken into account here. However, the costs of gas for preparing DHW are included into the calculation.

This info sheet gives information on a reference solar domestic hot water system for Denmark.

Comparison of the levelized cost of heat calculation methods for solar thermal applications in IEA-SHC Task 54 (LCoHs) and in Solar Heat Worldwide (LCoH)

This info sheet gives information on an optimized solar domestic hot water system with heat storage with polymer inlet stratifier in Denmark.

Sunlumo Technology is researching and developing future-oriented products and solutions in the field of solar heating. Mission and creed is to make a One-World-Solar-System available; to provide solar heating for literally everyone on earth. To realise this vision, Sunlumo developed a novel solar collector and the associated system components like pump group and piping to be mass-produced fully automatically.

This document lists the minimum information needed for the definition of a reference system. A reference system is a solar thermal system serving as benchmark for any other solar thermal system having the same fractional energy savings with respect to the levelized costs of heat (LCOH).

Accurate and complete performance evaluation is playing a major role in the further development of concentrating solar collectors. To ensure dependable test results, an appropriate testing and evaluation procedure is required. Moreover, the selection and installation of suitable  measurement instrumentation are essential for obtaining reliable data for the performance evaluation. The quality of the measurement instrumentation greatly influences the representativeness of the test results. Details on the measurement instrumentation recommended for the testing of low-temperature solar collectors have already been provided in the testing standard EN ISO 9806:2013.

Due to the specific characteristics of polymeric materials (e.g., variety of property profiles, ease of processing, mass production capability, freedom of design) this material class has been used to replace metal parts and components in various industrial sectors. In this case study the cost reduction achieved by material substitution is described and discussed exemplarily for industrial pumps.

A main challenge of the solar thermal market is the reduction of the production and installation cost finally following by the reduction of the market price of solar thermal systems. Installation costs are a major share of the total costs for solar thermal systems. Good ideas for cost reduction are needed. This sheet will give input for the discussion of this topic.