Three Solar Industry Trends for Beginners–and Some Important Perspective on Them If you’re new to the solar industry, you should keep an eye on three trends, says Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 58-hour NABCEP Advanced Solar PV Training Series. With prices of solar and energy storage dropping, it’s easy to get… Continue reading “Three Solar Industry Trends for Beginners–and Some Important Perspective on Them”
Avoid These Three Silly Mistakes about Solar–and Escape Embarrassment When you’re discussing the details of a solar energy system, it’s easy to slip up in embarrassing ways. Even solar company CEOs commit common mistakes, says Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 58-hour NABCEP Advanced Solar PV Training Series. His courses… Continue reading “Avoid These Three Silly Mistakes about Solar–and Escape Embarrassment”
Bigger Projects, Faster Design, Better ROI – Why “Megawatt Design” Exists and Whom it’s For “Megawatt Design” was an ambitious new course for solar designers created by Ryan Mayfield and SolarPro Magazine in 2014. The course has been continuously improved and today the content is more relevant than ever. Ryan, Randy Batchelor, and Jennifer Alfsen… Continue reading “Bigger Projects, Faster Design, Better ROI – Why “Megawatt Design” Exists and Whom it’s For”
Helping Non-Profits Understand the Urgency of the Solar Tax Credit Phase-Out It’s vital that non-profits understand the urgency of the phase-out of the federal solar tax credits, says Keith Cronin, co-instructor for HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course. Because non-profits tend to be cautious, don’t focus on tax credits, and move… Continue reading “Helping Non-Profits Understand the Urgency of the Solar Tax Credit Phase-Out”
How Can NGOs Access Valuable Federal Solar Tax Credits? Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are nonprofit entities that operate independently of any government, aren’t able to directly utilize federal tax credits available for solar, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Finance Masters Series and other courses. Here’s the problem: By… Continue reading “How Can NGOs Access Valuable Federal Solar Tax Credits?”
Encouraging Non-Profits to Bring Solar PV to their Communities Requires Education, Patience Solar developers and contractors are in the unique position of being able to educate non-profit organizations about solar energy and bring its benefits to their communities, says Keith Cronin, an instructor for numerous HeatSpring courses and founder of SunHedge. “The… Continue reading “Encouraging Non-Profits to Bring Solar PV to their Communities Requires Education, Patience”
Why HeatSpring? 12th Anniversary Message from Co-Founder Duncan Miller This month HeatSpring turns twelve. On this anniversary we are reflecting back on why we started the company and the core values that have guided us on the journey. Duncan Miller is a man of few words, but he speaks… Continue reading “Why HeatSpring? 12th Anniversary Message from Co-Founder Duncan Miller”
Join us at the Oregon Solar Energy Conference The Oregon Solar Energy Conference is the most robust regional solar energy conference in the nation, and returns to Portland, Oregon this year May 7-9. They will continue with their dedicated contractor day on May 7th, in coordination with the… Continue reading “Join us at the Oregon Solar Energy Conference”
With Inexpensive PV, These Three Strategies are no Longer Solar Sins Ten years ago, solar PV cost 10 times more than what it does now. That means solar installers can now embrace three strategies that were once considered solar sins. That’s the word from Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s 40-Hour Solar Advanced PV… Continue reading “With Inexpensive PV, These Three Strategies are no Longer Solar Sins”
How to Tackle the Difficult Task of Sizing Wires in Your Solar Arrays It’s not so easy to size wires in solar arrays, says Sean White, instructor of HeatSpring’s NABCEP PV Installation Professional Certification Exam Prep and CEUs course. The problem: the National Electrical Code (NEC) can be befuddling. His courses that focus on… Continue reading “How to Tackle the Difficult Task of Sizing Wires in Your Solar Arrays”
How the Wrong Roof or Warranty Can Undermine a Solar PV Project In a distributed generation project involving solar PV, identifying the status of the roof and the details of its warranty is critical, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course. If solar installers don’t do their homework,… Continue reading “How the Wrong Roof or Warranty Can Undermine a Solar PV Project”
The Solar ITC to Take its First Step Down, While Rapid Shutdown Moves Forward The 2017 National Electrical Code (NEC) and the federal solar investment tax credit (ITC) will leave their mark on the solar industry in 2019, with the NEC increasing costs temporarily and the ITC lowering incentives. That’s the word from Ryan Mayfield… Continue reading “The Solar ITC to Take its First Step Down, While Rapid Shutdown Moves Forward”
Businesses are Squeezing More Solar out of Their Property with These Two Trends More and more, businesses are looking for ways to squeeze more solar out of their available property, and have embraced two trends to do just that, says Ryan Mayfield, co-instructor of HeatSpring’s Megawatt Design course, which focuses on designing large… Continue reading “Businesses are Squeezing More Solar out of Their Property with These Two Trends”
Moving Toward Carbon Neutrality in Buildings Using Modeling Software No longer is energy consumption the primary basis for modeling solar projects, says Christopher Schaffner, instructor of HeatSpring’s Energy Modeling in EQuest course. More and more, the focus is on modeling carbon neutrality. Certain sources of energy have a lower… Continue reading “Moving Toward Carbon Neutrality in Buildings Using Modeling Software”
PG&E’s Bankruptcy and Your Long-Term Business We all recently learned that the utility filed. This is because of the enormous liabilities it is going to incur, as a result of the fires that swept through California recently. From Warren Buffet’s Topaz solar farm (which went into… Continue reading “PG&E’s Bankruptcy and Your Long-Term Business”
New Course: Marketing Mastery Masterclass Marketing is the path to make more money in 2019. And not just marketing to get more clients, but to attract the right people to your orbit. How do you do this? You create a 12-month campaign that is in… Continue reading “New Course: Marketing Mastery Masterclass”
Hydronic Heating Technology: No Longer Grandma’s Clanky Radiators To many people, hydronic heating technology conjures up ideas of Grandma’s hot and clanky steam radiators, says John Siegenthaler, instructor of HeatSpring’s “Mastering Hydronic System Design” and other courses. However, with recent improvements in technology, state-of-the-art hydronic heating systems boast… Continue reading “Hydronic Heating Technology: No Longer Grandma’s Clanky Radiators “
With 700 Percent Net-Zero Building Growth Since 2010, You Can Use Energy Modeling Software to Jump on the Bandwagon The idea of net-zero buildings has been around for years as an alternative to traditional buildings, which now consume about 40% of total fossil fuel energy in the US and the European Union. However, recently, net-zero buildings have become more… Continue reading “With 700 Percent Net-Zero Building Growth Since 2010, You Can Use Energy Modeling Software to Jump on the Bandwagon”
Popular in Europe and Asia, Air-To-Water Heat Pumps Poised for Growth in the U.S. In Europe and Asia, there were over 2 million air-to-water heat pump systems installed in 2016. In the U.S., there were about 1,000 installed, says John Siegenthaler, instructor of HeatSpring’s “Applications of Air-to-Water Heat Pumps for Hydronic Heating and Cooling,” and… Continue reading “Popular in Europe and Asia, Air-To-Water Heat Pumps Poised for Growth in the U.S.”
Managing the Moving Targets of Getting a Solar Power Purchase Agreement Signed Getting a power purchase agreement (PPA) signed for a solar project requires juggling numerous tasks–all of them moving targets, says Chris Lord, instructor of HeatSpring’s Solar Executive MBA Training course. It’s not easy to maneuver through this process and rope… Continue reading “Managing the Moving Targets of Getting a Solar Power Purchase Agreement Signed”