[en] The paper introduces the endothermic energy systems being developed for buildings. These use the concept of solar assisted heat pumps where thermal energy is harvested using large integrated solar collectors connected to energy stores. The low grade energy is upgraded using heat pumps to provide thermal energy effectively to a wide variety of applications for space heating and cooling and hot water. The domestic housing sector is focused upon here and a current EC funded project aimed at assessing the potential of the endothermic technology for providing the thermal energy for space heating and cooling and hot water is presented. (author)