The present paper introduces the concept of solar cooling as a major issue in the valorization of the solar source in front of the challenge represented by the worldwide growing demand of cold. The most relevant solar cooling technologies are briefly discussed as well as their possible combination and implementation in different contexts. Some real-world installations are proposed as representative of possible plant design in a variety of climate and building integration conditions. Through these cases, trends of innovation are identified both for small and settlement scale applications, supporting the perspective of a more efficient exploitation of the solar cooling potential. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.