Solar Thermal: Leading by Example

Instead of becoming a symbol of the future, those solar thermal panels became a symbol of government inaction and missed opportunity.

If you travel over to the Reichstag building in Berlin where the German Parliament sits, you'll find a government building that is almost entirely self-sufficient. The Reichstag building uses passive solar, combined heat and power, a geothermal heat pump, solar PV and solar thermal for almost all its energy needs. Germany also happens to be the world leader in solar PV and one of the leaders in solar thermal. A coincidence? Definitely not.

In this podcast, we'll look at how government action can set the national tone and encourage growth of technologies like solar thermal.

First, we'll go over the Reichstag building and take a quick tour of the many renewable energy systems being utilized.

Then, we'll travel to Munich and speak with Gerhard Stryi-Hipp, Head of Energy Policy and Group Leader of Solar Thermal Systems at the Fraunhofer Institute about what Europe can do to continue building its solar thermal industry.

Finally, we'll meet up with Les Nelson, Chair of the Solar Thermal Systems Division at the Solar Energy Industries Association, to chat about how we can get the U.S. solar thermal market moving again. Things are coming around, but there is a still a lot of ground to make up after such a long period of inaction.

This week's podcast is sponsored by Inovateus Solar.

Inside Renewable Energy is a weekly audio news program featuring stories and interviews on all the latest developments in the renewable energy industries.