In order to overcome these existing market barriers an expert working group was set up with participants from major german housing associations (GdW, BfW and Haus&Grund), decisions makers from experienced housing companies and

the initiators Federal Environmental Agency, the German Solar Industry Association (BSI) and Berlin Energy Agency to discuss promising instruments.

As a first step a clearly focussed information campaign was designed to inform decision makers within housing companies about the current state of solar collective technology by means of successful projects from housing companies.

In order to get information on a more regular way to the target group, professional articles were prepared in cooperation with different experts for association-linked magazines like "Die Wohnungswirtschaft” and “Freie Wohnungswirtschaft”. The articles were ment to inform actors about situation and prospects of solar collective systems for multi-family buildings as a more general overview. Furthermore the conference “Solarthermal for Multifamily Houses” organised in the frame of the trade fair Solarenergy in May 2003 in Berlin, was announced in these articles as well as the launch of the internet plattform www. soltherm. info.

The internet platform is addressed to attract building owners and building caretakers who are considering the use of solar thermal systems. Besides general technical and framework condition information the site contains different best-practice examples, which are presented in a consolidated way and give direct contact information to involved employees of the different housing companies. The selected examples in Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, Hennigsdorf, Kassel, Munchen and Linz are spread across the country in order to give potential buyers a chance to contact companies in their region.

The internet plattform and the published brochure invite the readers to contact the Berlin Energy Agency for further assistance in case they would like to develop an own solar collective system project. In the frame of the initiative the experts of the Berlin Energy Agency can provide manufacturer independent advice.

The mentioned brochure was developed in close cooperation with members of the expert group, and is sent to interested persons on demand. Furthermore the brochure was distributed to all 5000 members of the 2 main housing associations GdW and BfW, financed by the Federal Environmental Agency and the two associations. A second print run was done to cover the needs of several BSI member companies.

Additionally, presentations are being held during real estate events to attract decision makers for solar thermal projects.