HS TV Ep 9: How to Attract Top Talent or Find a Job in the Renewable Energy Industry Here is something I did not know. It has been as difficult for renewable energy companies to find amazing talent, as it has been for professionals to find a job in the renewable energy industry. Last week, I had an… Continue reading “HS TV Ep 9: How to Attract Top Talent or Find a Job in the Renewable Energy Industry”
How Does a Solar Lease Work and How Do you Sell its Value The above video is part 2 in a 5 part series HeatSpring created with BrightGrid Renewable Energy Finance for solar installers about solar financing and solar leases. You can watch the full 5 part series “How to User Solar Leases… Continue reading “How Does a Solar Lease Work and How Do you Sell its Value”
What Residential Solar Companies Need to do to Successfully Offer a Solar Lease According to the State of California Energy Commission, in Q3 of 2011, the majority of residential systems were financed. What does this mean for solar installers? Simple. The solar lease is becoming the industry norm and you need to be… Continue reading “What Residential Solar Companies Need to do to Successfully Offer a Solar Lease”
3 Learnings from Last Week’s #Solarchat and What it Says about the Future of the Industry Last week a number of solar super stars on twitter decided to discuss how we can mainstream solar. The conversion happened on twitter. I’m not going to give a recap or discuss what we talked about, you can find great… Continue reading “3 Learnings from Last Week’s #Solarchat and What it Says about the Future of the Industry”
Lessons Learned from Inventing a Solar Installation Tool and How it Can Help you Sell More Projects Let me first start by saying that this article is indeed a piece of shameless promotion. It is about a solar installation tool that I invented while I was running a crew installing residential photovoltaic arrays in Massachusetts. At first, I was not… Continue reading “Lessons Learned from Inventing a Solar Installation Tool and How it Can Help you Sell More Projects”
David vs. Goliath: How Can Small Companies Win in the Solar Industry? In the last few years a small number of big companies have gotten heavily focused on the residential solar market. SunRun, SolarCity, Sungevity, and Real Goods Inc, have raised a ton of money from both private and public investors to… Continue reading “David vs. Goliath: How Can Small Companies Win in the Solar Industry?”
How the Shift from Early Adopters to the Mass Market Impacts your Solar Marketing Efforts What strikes me most about renewable energy websites is how much companies tend to to talk about themselves and the technology and not about what the customer actually cares about. Actually, let me rephrase this, what “mainstream customers” care about.… Continue reading “How the Shift from Early Adopters to the Mass Market Impacts your Solar Marketing Efforts”
Answer 3 Questions to Make your Small Business a Solar Sales Machine The most important element of a profitable solar company is maximizing what I am referring to as “the sales equation”. In this article, I want to share specifically what the sales equation is, and what questions you can ask to… Continue reading “Answer 3 Questions to Make your Small Business a Solar Sales Machine”
Lessons Learned from Selling a Solar Company to SunEdison Now that hard installation costs are dropping rapidly in the solar pv industry, everyone’s looking at how to decrease soft costs. Across the board support for decreasing solar’s soft costs is the result of how well organized the industry is… Continue reading “Lessons Learned from Selling a Solar Company to SunEdison”
The 4 Ownership Structures Used to Finance Solar Projects – Part 1 If you’re new to the solar industry, go to the Solar 101 Reading list. It has free tools and articles on solar design and installation, sales and marketing, policy, finance and best practices. In the last post we discussed the… Continue reading “The 4 Ownership Structures Used to Finance Solar Projects – Part 1”
5 Basic Elements You Need to Know to Finance any Solar Project If you’re new to the solar industry, go to the Solar 101 Reading list. It has free tools and articles on solar design and installation, sales and marketing, policy, finance and best practices. Second only to long term, clear and… Continue reading “5 Basic Elements You Need to Know to Finance any Solar Project”
What Is The Value of the NABCEP Certification? The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) has become the primary certification entity for the solar industry and they continue to add more certifications. There is continued debate online about the value of the certifications. Some states are… Continue reading “What Is The Value of the NABCEP Certification?”
Which is Better: Solar Thermal Flat Plate or Evacuated Tube Collectors? Solar thermal flat plate or evacuated tube collectors? This is an incredibly common question in the solar thermal industry. Strangely enough, many people weigh in, and take different sides. Like a Red Sox vs Yankees type of rivalry, it’s a heated debate. In the end, it… Continue reading “Which is Better: Solar Thermal Flat Plate or Evacuated Tube Collectors?”
9 Things You Must Know to Become a Solar PV Designer What is it that solar PV designers do? What are their responsibilities and what’s required of them? First, it’s important to note that there is are geographical differences between solar PV designer responsibilities. In the Northeast quadrant of the United States, the designer… Continue reading “9 Things You Must Know to Become a Solar PV Designer”
4 Steps to Basic Solar Thermal Design I’m sure you’ve noticed that as fuel and electricity prices continue to rise, the interest in solar hot water (SHW) systems is also continuing to increase, and your customers may be asking about it. Why? It’s a simple, basic, and… Continue reading “4 Steps to Basic Solar Thermal Design”
Top Five Ways to Spot a Bad Roof in a Solar Site Assessment Before being able to install solar panels on any roof, performing a solar site assessment is critical in order to properly design a solar system. From a sales perspective, it is key to know what to look for instead of… Continue reading “Top Five Ways to Spot a Bad Roof in a Solar Site Assessment”
Tips & Tricks for Residential Solar Installation Done Right This is an exciting day for the residents of a small white cape in Waltham, Massachusetts; today the new solar photovoltaic electric system goes live. A year of study is about to end and the result of all this research… Continue reading “Tips & Tricks for Residential Solar Installation Done Right”
“What Do I Need To Become a Licensed Solar Installer?” A State-by-State Answer! “What do I need to do to become a licensed solar installer?” This is the most common question we hear from the experienced professionals who take HeatSpring solar design and installation courses. There are always a few hoops to jump… Continue reading ““What Do I Need To Become a Licensed Solar Installer?” A State-by-State Answer!”