Technology Transfer from the Solar R & D Community to the European Building Professions: SOLINFO

Abstract

The CEC R & D sub-programme, Solar Energy Applications in Buildings, faces an unusually difficult task in the dissemination of its results because of the diversity and size of its target audience. SOLINFO aims to promote the transfer of information from the solar research community to the building design and construction professions. It concentrates on the areas of improving our understanding of information requirements, supporting undergraduate education and mid-career education, providing aids to professional practice, and speeding-up research dissemination. A series of national review tasks has been completed and an analysis of the findings prepared. An expert team of national subcontractors is being appointed both to form the basis of an information network and to act as an advisory group for the project as a whole. There is also a series of related tasks. Priority areas of work include: identification of information content and format required by users; establishing information networks between ‘centres of excellence’; compiling a catalogue of selected passive solar components; and implementing a series of CEC research digests. Close linkages exist between the SOLINFO and ARCHISOL projects.