Using Solar to Heat – Net Metering Makes a Difference In the article below, Vaughan Woodruff, Expert Instructor, Solar Approaches to Radiant Heating, outlines a response to a student who recently asked a question regarding the use of solar electricity for heating and how advances in battery storage might impact the suitability of using… Continue reading “Using Solar to Heat – Net Metering Makes a Difference”
Five Questions about Hydronic Heat Sources On the Mastering Hydronic System Design Course discussion board with expert instructor John Siegenthaler… Takeaways: Although closely spaced tees are great for hydraulic separation, a modern hydraulic separator provides air and dirt separation in addition to hydraulic separation. When considering whether to use… Continue reading “Five Questions about Hydronic Heat Sources”
Lost In Space: The Removal of Orbital Debris Discussion On the Commercial Space Executive Leadership Training discussion board… Takeaways: Policy regarding orbital debris removal in space is predominantly at a standstill It can take tens of years for tumbling debris to stabilize due to gravity gradient Technical and financial challenges face… Continue reading “Lost In Space: The Removal of Orbital Debris Discussion”
Solar Women Summer Series: Resources for the Solar Startup This week’s Solar Women Summer Series interview features Emily Kirsch, CEO and Co-Founder of SfunCube, the world’s only incubator and accelerator dedicated to solar. SfunCube is an epicenter of solar innovation that houses and provides resources for entrepreneurs working to spread solar with smart… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Resources for the Solar Startup”
Modeling Your Solar Project’s Cash Flows – When to Increase Granularity In this article, Chris Lord, expert instructor at HeatSpring, lawyer with deep banking experience, and the Managing Director of CapIron, Inc., outlines when it’s important for solar businesses to increase granularity in their solar project’s cash flow model. Key Takeaways: When… Continue reading “Modeling Your Solar Project’s Cash Flows – When to Increase Granularity”
Solar Women Summer Series: Finding Funding in Solar Our fifth Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Sara Rafalson, Senior Associate at Sol Systems, a solar energy finance and investment firm with offices in D.C., San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Ms. Rafalson is also the President of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Finding Funding in Solar”
Cool Infographic: Solar Power Taking the World By Storm Solar power energy is growing from a grassroots effort into a mainstream source of energy. What is causing this shift? The answer is almost everything. Here are a few key factors that are driving solar energy. Government: Globally, governments are… Continue reading “Cool Infographic: Solar Power Taking the World By Storm”
Free Lecture: Award-Winning Green Roof and Wall Projects: Design and Implementation In this free lecture, Stephen Peck, Founder & President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, showcases and profiles Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence winners from the fall 2014 CitiesAlive conference, including inspiring, high-profile work that pushes the envelope… Continue reading “Free Lecture: Award-Winning Green Roof and Wall Projects: Design and Implementation”
Why the World Needs LEED v4 Project Managers “LEED v4 Project Management” is our first LEED course ever. We sat out the first wave of LEED education because there were a lot of great courses out there already. So why get into LEED now? A: Because LEED v4 project… Continue reading “Why the World Needs LEED v4 Project Managers”
Solar Women Summer Series: The #1 Networking Organization for Women in Solar This week’s Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Kristen Nicole, Founder and Executive Director at Women in Solar Energy (WISE). Kristen Nicole is a solar industry and power systems professional. Her research focus has been on strategies to… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: The #1 Networking Organization for Women in Solar”
How LinkedIn Transformed HeatSpring Emails Here’s an email I got from LinkedIn today: Contrast that with a HeatSpring newsletter from a few weeks ago: For eight years I was proud of our email newsletter. We put a lot of hard work into making it relevant… Continue reading “How LinkedIn Transformed HeatSpring Emails”
Moisture Matters in Mastering Building Science The following is a conversation between 4 students and Allison A. Bailes III, Ph.D. from our Mastering Building Science course. Dr. Bailes is the founder and owner of Energy Vanguard in Decatur, Georgia. His academic credentials in physics (BS, MS,… Continue reading “Moisture Matters in Mastering Building Science”
Solar Women Summer Series: The Solar Business Skillset Our third Solar Women Summer Series interview (powered by RenewableEnergyWorld.com) features Pamela Cargill, Principal at Chaolysti, a strategic consulting firm that helps residential solar installers operate more effectively. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chaolysti aims to massively scale the deployment of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: The Solar Business Skillset”
3 Tax and ITC Considerations for Your Solar Project On the Solar Executive MBA Training Discussion Board… Key Takeaways: Depreciation benefits tend to be far lower than the value of the solar investment tax credit (ITC) If an asset is deemed an “integral” part of the solar PV system then it can… Continue reading “3 Tax and ITC Considerations for Your Solar Project”
Home Performance Coalition, Home Energy Magazine, and Rick Karg Tackle ASHRAE 62.2 This week we launched a new course, “ASHRAE 62.2 Ventilation for Single-Family Dwellings”, for Fall 2015. To understand why this course is special, you need to meet the A+ team. Rick Karg has been on the ASRAE 62.2 committee since… Continue reading “Home Performance Coalition, Home Energy Magazine, and Rick Karg Tackle ASHRAE 62.2”
Solar Women Summer Series: Find A Mentor! It’s week two of our Solar Women Summer Series! Last week we featured Lidija Sekaric, Director of the Technology to Market Program at the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. This week, we’re excited to feature Tamika Jacques, Director of Workforce Development Programs at… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Find A Mentor!”
3 Reasons to Rethink Crawlspaces in Passive House Design On NESEA’S BuildingEnergy course Passive House Design course discussion board… Takeaways: Typically, Passive Houses do not feature crawlspaces (a foundation that is five feet or less, and fully enclosed — or, not vented to outside) because: If the thermal boundary is at the… Continue reading “3 Reasons to Rethink Crawlspaces in Passive House Design”
Solar Women Summer Series: Getting Involved with the D.O.E. SunShot Initiative The teams at HeatSpring and RenewableEnergyWorld.com are excited to kick off Solar Women Summer Series, a series of interviews featuring women who have taken HeatSpring’s solar courses and other interesting women doing important work in the solar industry. This week we feature Dr. Lidija Sekaric, Director of… Continue reading “Solar Women Summer Series: Getting Involved with the D.O.E. SunShot Initiative”
Interview: How to Create a Holistic Built Environment – Transportation, Solar, and More We reached out to Ryan C.C. Chin, Ph.D., the Managing Director and Research Scientist of MIT Media Lab’s Changing Places group, to learn about the initiatives his group is working on to reshape cities into more holistic systems and how the HeatSpring community of contractors,… Continue reading “Interview: How to Create a Holistic Built Environment – Transportation, Solar, and More”
Boost Your Webinars: Create Dynamic, Community-Building Online Lectures In this article, I outline why we host online lectures instead of webinars at HeatSpring and share information for ways that we can help you and your business (cleantech, high performance building, geothermal, and more) start hosting dynamic, community-building online lectures,… Continue reading “Boost Your Webinars: Create Dynamic, Community-Building Online Lectures”