About Lisa Cohn

Lisa Cohn, a regular contributor at HeatSpring Magazine, has worked as a writer for more than 20 years, focusing on energy and environment. She is a former U.S. stringer for Windpower Monthly Magazine, a former associate editor of Oregon Business and a former editor of Forest Perspectives, a quarterly magazine published by the World Forestry Center. She began her writing career as an energy and environment reporter for The Cape Cod Times. Lisa has received numerous writing awards, from the Pacific Northwest Writers Association, Willamette Writers and Associated Oregon Industries.

Why This Long-Time Solar Advocate is Having So Much Fun

“We are at the leapfrog stage in renewable energy. This is a paradigm shift. This is the answer, the holy grail,” says Christopher LaForge, co-instructor of two new courses from Heatspring, Utility Scale Commercial & Industrial Storage 101 and Utility Scale Commercial & Industrial Storage 201.

For more than 30 years, advocates like LaForge have tried […]

Humbly Making an Impact on the Geothermal Industry

HeatSpring instructor Ryan Carda doesn’t like to brag about the positive impact he’s had on the geothermal industry.

But Brian Hayden, co-founder of HeatSpring, is happy to sing Carda’s praise.

“Ryan is the ultimate teacher because he’s so smart and so patient. Nobody is more deserving of success. He helped the geothermal industry association – IGSHPA – […]

Justine Sanchez is Passionate About Moving the Solar Industry Forward

Justine Sanchez, lead instructor for “NEC 2017 & 2020 Solar + Storage Requirements”, has installed solar electric systems, served as an editor for Home Power Magazine, worked as a PV technical trainer for Solar Energy International (SEI) and served as a consultant to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

But what she loves more than anything is […]

Evaluating the Financial Returns of Energy Storage

A number of factors now contribute to changes that allow storage to reap returns for owners and operators, says Wes Kennedy, instructor of HeatSpring’s Comprehensive Solar Plus Storage course. 

“Storage makes money with demand charge management, time of use arbitrage and resiliency. These use cases are more or less profitable based on various utility rate structures,” […]

How to Get into the Renewable Energy Industry

Jack Bishop of Portland, Oregon recently graduated from Tulane University with hopes of entering the renewable energy industry and doing his part to address environmental challenges.

While he had taken numerous courses related to the industry, he didn’t know where to start looking for a job.

Bishop is not alone in his wish to enter a field […]