New solar absorber coatings are developed and used in advanced collector designs with improved efficiency. The operation temperature and stagnation temperature as the main durability load for the absorbers were increasing during the past due to these innovations. Especially the highly selective new coatings have to suffer by these stronger loads. The service life estimation procedures developed in the framework of research activities of the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (Task 10 and Working Group Materials in Solar-Thermal Collectors) were based on load profiles for less-advanced absorbers and collectors and did not take into account the impact of the optical properties of the absorber coatings on the stagnation temperature of the collectors, which is the main reason for temperature degradation. A new procedure was developed, which allows testing depending on the optical properties (Solar absorptance and thermal emittance) of the absorbers. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.