Learning How to Safely Fly Drones In February 2015, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a list of proposed regulations that paved the way for small drones (or “unmanned aircraft systems”) to enter mainstream civil aviation. The regulations came after many close calls or accidents involving… Continue reading “Learning How to Safely Fly Drones”
Are Heat Pumps a Form of Renewable Energy? It’s common for policymakers to argue that heat pumps are not a form of renewable energy, says John Siegenthaler, instructor of HeatSpring’s Application of Air-to-Water Heat Pumps for Hydronic Heating & Cooling course. In response to such claims, he argues… Continue reading “Are Heat Pumps a Form of Renewable Energy?”
Protecting Firefighters and Solar Homes with Rapid Shutdown During Wildfire Season When Sean White meets firefighters, he often asks what they do if they encounter solar homes during wildfires. Do they rush to protect the homes? In the past, the answer was no, says White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 40-Hour NABCEP Advanced… Continue reading “Protecting Firefighters and Solar Homes with Rapid Shutdown During Wildfire Season”
New Standards Aim to Ensure Storage is Safe But Fail to Distinguish Among Battery Chemistries A lithium-ion battery in a container near Phoenix owned by Arizona Public Service (APS) caught fire in April 2019, then other batteries in the container caught fire, releasing explosive gas and sparking an explosion that hurt several first responders. Such… Continue reading “New Standards Aim to Ensure Storage is Safe But Fail to Distinguish Among Battery Chemistries”
Democratizing Solar Energy with an ITC Refund The solar industry is lobbying for measures to move solar energy forward during the ongoing pandemic and financial crisis–measures that could help bring solar to more people in the U.S., boost the economy and help meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.… Continue reading “Democratizing Solar Energy with an ITC Refund”
Comfortable, Resilient Net-Zero Buildings Aren’t Just Residential Hampshire College’s R.W. Kern Center achieved zero net energy building status due to its passive solar orientation, high levels of insulation, airtight envelope and triple glazed windows. The building also includes air source heat pumps, and a 118-kW rooftop solar… Continue reading “Comfortable, Resilient Net-Zero Buildings Aren’t Just Residential”
Load Modeling Tool Helps Users Decide How to Best Use Solar, Storage & Controls To make the most effective use of solar, it’s critical to know when and how a customer is using power–and see if there’s a match between load and solar availability. While this seems like a simple idea, using a load… Continue reading “Load Modeling Tool Helps Users Decide How to Best Use Solar, Storage & Controls”
Re-Thinking Wire Sizing Rules of Thumb for Solar PV For many years, the solar industry has followed rules of thumb about oversizing wires to reduce energy losses in solar PV systems. The rules of thumb call for the PV industry to oversize wires to ensure no more than a… Continue reading “Re-Thinking Wire Sizing Rules of Thumb for Solar PV”
The Quiet Revolution: Solar-Plus-Storage Gains Ground In some parts of the country, the costs of solar-plus-storage are beating grid prices, which is good news for the solar industry and the environment. For example, in Nevada, regulators in 2019 approved three solar-plus-storage power purchase agreements (PPA) for… Continue reading “The Quiet Revolution: Solar-Plus-Storage Gains Ground”
How to Streamline the Design Process for Large-Scale Solar Projects When designing a large-scale solar project, it’s critical to tackle classic hang-ups as early as possible to avoid slowing a project and encountering cost overruns, says Ryan Mayfield, instructor, along with Randy Batchelor, of HeatSpring’s Megawatt Design course. Designers need… Continue reading “How to Streamline the Design Process for Large-Scale Solar Projects”
The Benefits of Standardized Solar Contracts Students in HeatSpring’s newly updated Solar Executive MBA Training Course learn about how to take advantage of a standardized solar contract, one of the course’s important new features. “If you use your own agreement, you need to find an investor… Continue reading “The Benefits of Standardized Solar Contracts”
Transitioning to the Solar Business from Other Industries to Find Rewarding Work The two most active and attentive students in a recent Solar Executive MBA Training course came not from the solar industry but from the Texas oil industry, says Keith Cronin, HeatSpring’s co-instructor of the course. “Both had extensive backgrounds and… Continue reading “Transitioning to the Solar Business from Other Industries to Find Rewarding Work”
Tips From a Pro for Taking the NABCEP PV Installation Professional Exam If you’re a solar industry member interested in taking the NABCEP PV Installation Professional Certification exam, it’s a good idea to be familiar with the work of instructor Sean White–and to check out his tips about studying for exams. White,… Continue reading “Tips From a Pro for Taking the NABCEP PV Installation Professional Exam”
Training that Helps Low-Income People & International Students Enter the Solar Field Helping low-income people and students around the world prepare for green jobs makes HeatSpring instructor Sean White proud. White, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar PV Boot Camp and NABCEP PV Associate Exam Prep course, is well suited for teaching people from… Continue reading “Training that Helps Low-Income People & International Students Enter the Solar Field”
Using Drones for Gathering and Crunching Data in Solar, Other Industries Drones–unmanned aircraft–can be useful tools for PV engineers and those in other industries, especially for large-scale projects that would require engineers to work at heights or cover a large field to gather data. That’s the word from Keven Gambold, who… Continue reading “Using Drones for Gathering and Crunching Data in Solar, Other Industries”
Energy Storage Could be a Gold Mine for Utility Customers. What’s Holding it Back? Solar-plus-storage can be a gold mine for residential, commercial and industrial utility customers, says Christopher LaForge, co-instructor of HeatSpring’s 35-Hour NABCEP Advanced Solar Plus Storage: Proposals and Planning course. But right now, the customers face obstruction from utilities that are… Continue reading “Energy Storage Could be a Gold Mine for Utility Customers. What’s Holding it Back?”
HeatSpring Gets High Marks for Students Taking the NABCEP Associate Exam Over the past 12 months, 98% of the HeatSpring students who have taken the NABCEP PV Associate exam have passed it. HeatSpring instructor Sean White teaches the students how to prepare for the exam with his course, Solar PV Installer… Continue reading “HeatSpring Gets High Marks for Students Taking the NABCEP Associate Exam”
Why Hydronic Distribution Systems Can be Ten Times More Efficient than Forced Air Policymakers often focus on providing incentives for efficient heat sources, but neglect to do their research on distribution systems. As a result, they’re missing out on opportunities to boost the efficiency of the overall heating system. They could do this… Continue reading “Why Hydronic Distribution Systems Can be Ten Times More Efficient than Forced Air”
Jokes, Music and Memory Tricks Help Keep Students Engaged in NABCEP Course Sean White brings original guitar music, his own jokes, quick responses to questions and tried-and-true memorization tricks to HeatSpring’s 40-hour NABCEP Advanced PV Certification Training and CEUs course. Funny Professors Role Models for White He learned some of his teaching… Continue reading “Jokes, Music and Memory Tricks Help Keep Students Engaged in NABCEP Course”
Striking a Balance Between Aggressive and Conservative Solar Project Designs It’s tempting to pack a roof with too many solar panels to sell a system, says Randy Batchelor, instructor, along with Ryan Mayfield, of HeatSpring’s Megawatt Design course. “An engineer might say, ‘It will only fit 1 MW.’ A salesperson… Continue reading “Striking a Balance Between Aggressive and Conservative Solar Project Designs”