4 October 2012: The International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling (IEA SHC) Programme has released a document on “Product Developments and Dissemination Activities,” summarizing new products and systems being developed within the solar heating and cooling sector.

The document, part of the IEA SHC’s project on solar energy and architecture (Task 41), outlines a number of new innovative products and systems in the design phase, and then lists various avenues where information on these have been disseminated. Specifically, it focuses on power-generatign building façades, among which is the development of a wood prefabricated building component with photovoltaic (PV) power; a new type of “sliver” solar cell developed at the Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems that is paper thin, transparent and flexible; and the development of a solar air heater using phase change material (PCM) thermal energy storage.

The report goes on to outline workshops and presentations carried out by Task 41 organized by academic institutions in Austria, Norway, Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden. [Product Developments and Dissemination Activities]