Korea new participating country in the ECES
At the 64th Executive Committee Meeting in Ankara / Turkey in December 2006 Korea was invited as a new participating country in the ECES. The Korean ministry of commerce, industry and energy has signed the Implementing Agreement. The participation of Korea in this Agreement became effective as of 1 February 2008. The Korean delegate Dr. In-Hwan Oh was very interested in becoming active in the work of Annex 20 “Sustainable Cooling with Thermal Energy Storage”.
Symposium „Material Development for Thermal Energy Storage - Phase Change Materials and Chemical Reactions", June 4-6 2008, Bad Tölz, Germany
The Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research, ZAE Bayern, will organize a Symposium on material development for thermal energy storage. The ZAE Bayern would like to invite all interested researchers and industry to participate in this event and to contribute to the discussions.
The Symposium will be a Kick-off for a new Annex on “Material Development for Improved Thermal Energy Storage Systems”. This Annex is planned to be a joint activity with the Solar Haeting and Cooling Implementing Agreement.
Goal of this Symposium is to define needs for research and to establish teams for further activities, which include material science and Thermal Energy Storage (TES) application expertise. Furthermore the scattered international activities in material research and development for thermal energy storage should become more structured and better coordinated.
There is a wide gap between basic research on materials like PCMs or novel adsorbents and the more applied R&D dealing with TES applications of theses materials. The potential users of these technologies, e.g. equipment manufacturers, do not always realize the possibilities of innovative materials, while on the other side there is often a lack of understanding for the real requirements for a material in its application. Therefore it is necessary to bring together experts from both fields and give them the opportunity to communicate.
More information about the Symposium can be found here.
IEA Ministerial Meeting of OECD countries in Paris
The 14-15 May biennial IEA ministerial meeting in Paris concluded with a communiqué highlighting the need to accelerate development and deployment of new technologies. It listed steps that would be taken urgently to bring this about. The ministerial communiqué will provide guidelines for the IEA’s future work in the energy technology domain.
The ministerial gathering was the occasion to present a rich array of publications and papers drawing on the work of the IEA Secretariat and its international energy technology network. The ministerial meeting featured a technology fair showcasing the work of theImplementing Agreements. The fair illustrates with stands the potential of different technologies and steps that governments, businesses and consumers need to take to realise them. The picture shows the ECES exhibit at the meeting, which was explaining a mobile sorption storage system for the utilization of industrial waste heat (see Annex 18 ).
Annex 21 on “Thermal Response Test” started
A new Annex on “Thermal Response Test” was started at the last Executive Committee Meeting. Thermal Response Test (TRT) is a measurement method to determine in situ ground thermal properties i.e. effective thermal conductivity of ground thermal resistance in boreholes. The TRT equipment is usually set up on a trailer for easy transportation between test sites. This method has been very important in the rapid spreading of BTES systems. It has been a door opener for introducing the technology in “new” countries.
The overall objective of Annex 21 are to compile TRT experiences worldwide in order to identify problems, carry out further development, disseminate gained knowledge, and promote the technology. Based on the overview, a TRT State of the art, new developments and further work are studied.
If you are interested in that Annex please contact the operating agent Manfred Reuß