Free Hydronic Design Video From John Siegenthaler This ten minute video is all about fittings. Fittings can be an afterthought, but they are a critical component for designing a high-performing hydronic heating system. In this video, John Siegenthaler outlines the universe of fittings, and even tells you… Continue reading “Free Hydronic Design Video From John Siegenthaler”
Success Begets Success: Why Your Trip to Ball State’s GeoCon is a Great Investment in the Future of Your Business I’m not a fisherman, but I have plenty of stories about the one that got away. Big, fantastic opportunities don’t come along frequently, so they tend to catch us off guard. Ball State is the one that didn’t get away.… Continue reading “Success Begets Success: Why Your Trip to Ball State’s GeoCon is a Great Investment in the Future of Your Business”
Two Things You Should Know About the Michigan Solar Industry The Open PV Project ranks Michigan as the 28th best state for solar PV with 7.09 MW of installed capacity. Here are two things you might not know about the Michigan solar industry if you’re not spending a lot of… Continue reading “Two Things You Should Know About the Michigan Solar Industry”
Meet Tom McCormack, HeatSpring’s First ‘Student Advocate’ It’s no secret we’re excited about online and blended learning. Education is going digital – everyone knows it, but there’s a ton of fear and uncertainty about what that future looks like. If online training is the Wild West, then… Continue reading “Meet Tom McCormack, HeatSpring’s First ‘Student Advocate’”
Solar Executive MBA – Learn How to Model, Price, and Find Investors for Your Commercial Solar Projects Whose job is it to understand all of the numbers behind a commercial or utility-scale solar project? “That’s somebody else’s job,” is the response we hear from most people in the solar industry. We built the Solar Executive MBA for… Continue reading “Solar Executive MBA – Learn How to Model, Price, and Find Investors for Your Commercial Solar Projects”
John Siegenthaler and BNP Media Launch Online Course for Hydronic Heating Professionals: ‘Mastering Hydronic System Design’ John Siegenthaler is teaching an advanced hydronic design course this fall for 50 professionals. It’s a 10-week hands-on design course delivered on Cammpus software. BNP Media and HeatSpring Learning Institute are partners on the event.
What Every Renewable Energy Trainer Needs to Do to Stay Relevant My #1 piece of advice to all trainers for the next five years: create a digital version of your content. Do it now. Create it in little packets so you can deliver them in an agile way across a variety… Continue reading “What Every Renewable Energy Trainer Needs to Do to Stay Relevant”
Why Get NABCEP Certified? Is getting NABCEP Certified worth it? It’s the only game in town in the solar industry, but it’s not really required – it’s not a license. People ask me whether it’s worth it all the time and I don’t really… Continue reading “Why Get NABCEP Certified?”
Vermont Has the Most Progressive Solar Permitting Process in the Nation Until recently, Rachel Tronstein served as the Deputy Director of the SunShot Initiative at the U.S. Department of Energy. SunShot is a presidential level initiative focused on making R&D investments that will drive down the installed cost of solar so… Continue reading “Vermont Has the Most Progressive Solar Permitting Process in the Nation”
How 30 People Learned to Design a Zero Net Energy Home Last year the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association launched a year-round ‘Masters Series’ to extend the reach of popular Building Energy Conference. Marc Rosenbaum, one of the most popular presenters at the conference, taught a Zero Net Energy Homes course –… Continue reading “How 30 People Learned to Design a Zero Net Energy Home”
Renewable Energy Lessons From Harvard Business School’s Study on U.S. Competitiveness On November 15th, Harvard Business School hosted a discussion on ways companies and other stakeholders can boost U.S. competitiveness. It took place at The Henry Ford in Detroit, and the case discussion was about the rise, fall, and rise of… Continue reading “Renewable Energy Lessons From Harvard Business School’s Study on U.S. Competitiveness”
Geothermal and Solar Installers: Get to Know Your Municipal Utility (It’s not a Waste of Time) “Municipal utilities are more open to trying new things than investor-owned utilities.” This is the lesson I took away from my visit to the Wyandotte Municipal Services as part of a delegation from the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. They’ve… Continue reading “Geothermal and Solar Installers: Get to Know Your Municipal Utility (It’s not a Waste of Time)”
Two Things I Learned at the 2012 IGSHPA Conference On Tuesday October 2nd we hosted an evening program titled, “How to Make Money in Renewable Energy” for 45 brave souls who traveled to Indianapolis for the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) Conference. These were the panelists: Allan… Continue reading “Two Things I Learned at the 2012 IGSHPA Conference”
Made in Detroit: Do you Have a Customer with a Thermal Problem? A hybrid solar panel made in Detroit using automotive components, with investment from an EPC contractor in Florida. Interesting. Interesting enough that I spent two hours this week along with other members of the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association touring… Continue reading “Made in Detroit: Do you Have a Customer with a Thermal Problem?”
Alumni Profile: Virgil Bellini & the Growth of California Solar Thermal California Solar Thermal (CST) is a San Diego-based solar installation business on pace to do 42 solar thermal projects this year. According to California Solar Statistics data they are the #1 solar thermal company in southern California, and are currently… Continue reading “Alumni Profile: Virgil Bellini & the Growth of California Solar Thermal”
“How To Make Money in Renewable Energy” Meet-Up at the 2012 IGSHPA Conference Going to the IGSHPA conference in Indy? If so, let us buy you a drink. HeatSpring Learning Institute, GeoConnections, and ClimateMaster are hosting a meet-up for business owners in town for the IGSHPA Conference. Tuesday October 2nd – 7-9pm – Cost: Free… Continue reading ““How To Make Money in Renewable Energy” Meet-Up at the 2012 IGSHPA Conference”
HeatSpring’s 100 Year Plan & How it Impacts You We started HeatSpring in 2006. Recently it dawned on us that doing this work is really hard, but there’s nothing we’d rather be doing. We’re proud of what HeatSpring is, and talked about what it might become over a 100-year… Continue reading “HeatSpring’s 100 Year Plan & How it Impacts You”
The Future of Comfort. How the World Cup Might Help Your Help Your HVAC Business. How did Qatar win their bid to host the 2022 World Cup? In this video, Wolfgang Kessling explains how his team designed a comfort strategy that helped make it happen. Yes, comfort. Here’s why I wanted to share this video with… Continue reading “The Future of Comfort. How the World Cup Might Help Your Help Your HVAC Business.”
Jigar Shah’s Call to Arms For Small Solar Companies Everywhere This week I flew to Chicago for the Illinois Solar Energy Association fund raiser. Jigar Shah delivered the keynote to 70 registrants, packed into Emmett’s Place in Palatine. I left at 9:30pm with an excited sense that Solar PV in… Continue reading “Jigar Shah’s Call to Arms For Small Solar Companies Everywhere”
Certified GeoExchange Desiger Certification – The CGD – What is it? Who needs it? How to get it? Certified GeoExchange Designer Certification is the most prestigious credential that exists within the geothermal heat pump industry because few people have it. It’s hard to get because you can’t sit for the exam without some combination of education and experience… Continue reading “Certified GeoExchange Desiger Certification – The CGD – What is it? Who needs it? How to get it?”