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ESTIF publishes Solar Thermal Action Plan for Europe |
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Wednesday, 21 February 2007 |
 One square metre of collector area for each European citizen by the year 2020 - this is the target set out by ESTIF, the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation, in their new Action Plan, refers estec 2007's Newsletter.
In their report, the industry federation addresses policy makers from all over Europe and urges them to adopt binding national targets for heating and cooling from renewable energies - similar to the targets that exist for renewable electricity and for biofuels. Solar Thermal has a huge potential to create local jobs and to decrease dependency from oil-imports. Within just 13 years, the EU could annually save 19 million tons of this expensive fossil fuel by replacing it with solar thermal. And the longer-term potential is much higher.
In order to reach ESTIF's ambitious goal, an average market growth of 31 percent each year would be necessary - less than the growth rate achieved in 2006. And solar thermal installations would be deployed not only for hot water preparation and space heating, but also for cooling purposes and in industrial processes. According to ESTIF, coherent policies are indispensable for a sufficient growth of the solar thermal market. The Action Plan contains concrete guidelines for effective policies, based on the analyses of case studies of support policies in various EU Member States. |
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