EUROPEAN SOLAR DAYS
The European Solar Days are a Europe-wide campaign promoting the use of solar energy for production of electricity, heating and cooling.
What started in 2002 in Austria as ‘Day of the Sun’, is now a multi-country effort with thousands of local events involving organisers who range from solar equipment manufacturers, to church communities and local governments.
In 2008, the initiative was taken to the European level and the first European Solar Days took place in 13 European countries with over 4.000 events.
The second edition of the European Solar Days occurred between 15 and 22 May 2009 in 16 countries, i.e.: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
During the 3rd edition of this campaign, from 1 to 16 May 2010,
over half a million citizens participated in around 6 600 events in 17 European Countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.Following the adoption of the climate package for Europe calling for 20% renewable energy in Europe by 2020, Chancellor Angela Merkel was this year’s patron of the campaign “Woche der Sonne” in Germany where alone 4000 events were held. In Paris, several flagship events took place in front of the city hall on 7, 8 and 9 May, in partnership with the Maison de l’Europe.
Any stakeholder in the solar sector is invited to initiate events that promote the use of solar energy. On the Solar Days website (www.solardays.eu) contacts for each participating country are shown.
The European Solar Days are coordinated by ESTIF in close co-operation with EPIA and supported by 25 organisations at a national and European level.
Further Information on the European Solar Days is available at: www.solardays.eu