Currently, solar thermal markets are growing all over Europe (see Fig. 7), even if with different path and different focus: Germany is still the largest market; Austria and Greece are among countries with the highest per capita collector area, but while in the first solar combi systems become increasingly important (35% of installed area), in the latter dominate thermosiphonic systems for DHW; other southern European countries as e. g. Spain and France are catching up now. Solar combi plus systems have a large potential here because systems can be used year around for DHW, pool heating, space heating and last but not least cooling. Although small solar combi plus systems are relatively new to the market, sales are rapidly increasing. The industrial partners involved in this project have already installed more than 130 systems all over Europe.

Fig. 8. Answers to the question, whether consumers ask
retailers about energy efficiency