The first episode of HeatSprint TV, known as HS TV from now on, is live! In the first episode of HS TV, I discuss 5 current new stories of importance and welcomed our first guest, Jamie from S+H Construction. We discuss being a general contractor and getting into the renewable energy industry. The conversation spanned policy, sales, Jamie’s perspective on job creation in clean energy, and what the developments he’s most excited about in the industry. Read past the break for full details and join HeatSpring on facebook to keep the most up to date on free courses, events, tips, resources and news. If you’re a clean energy professional and looking to connect with other geothermal professionals to collaborate on jobs or best practices, request to join HeatSpring’s linkedin group for Clean Energy Professionals

The content of HS TV is going to be exactly the same as HeatSpring Magazine. However, we felt that there are some advantages of using video and audio over written text. Within next week, you’ll be able to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes. We’re planning on making it a bi-weekly podcast and eventually move to weekly. The goal of HS TV will be provide information and insights for contractors interested in clean energy to grow their business. For many episodes we plan to have a guest that will have a perspective on one of the following issues:

1. New stories and what impact they will have on your business
2. End Customers [property owners] Why are they investing clean energy?
3. Policy. We’ll be getting local and state politicians on the show to get a first hand perspective of what they’re doing to build the clean energy economic
4. Best Practices: We’ll be getting industry experts on the show to discuss best practices for marketing, sales, installation and design in solar, geothermal, and energy efficiency.
5. Successful RE Companies. We’ll be bringing on successful HS alumni and friends to discuss their businesses, challenges, and where they see the future going.

With the release of HS TV, we’ve also began to build or social media communities. Over the past 2 years we’ve been suspect of social media, not want to invest the time in creating a community unless it was useful to our students. We’ve created two communities, one on facebook and the other on Linkedin.

HeatSpring Facebook Community: The HeatSpring Facebook community will be open to everyone and our intent is to provide a place for more causual conversations around the adoption of clean energy for contractors, property owners and the general public.

Clean Energy Professionals – HeatSpring Learning Institute. The HeatSpring Linkedin group will professional group that you’ll need be approved to gain access to. The group will be a “who’s who” of clean energy professionals reserved for HeatSpring alumni, students, friends and professionals who are actively invovled in the industry. Clean Energy Professionals will be a place for members to help each other with their busienss, weather the issues are technical, business, or you’re looking for a partner for certain projects. We have solar, geothermal and energy efficiency specific subgroups so that professionals interested in different industries can connect with each other more easily.

Lastly, what other online communities are useful for contractors? I’m a huge fan of SolarPro’s forum but haven’t found anything else that is comparable. Any suggestions?