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”
3 Reasons Your PV System Load Profile is Overinflated and How to Fix It The article below is a discussion from our course, Batteries in Solar PV Systems, led by Christopher LaForge. Christopher LaForge is the CEO of Great Northern Solar and a NABCEP certified photovoltaic installer. He has been designing, specifying, and installing systems… Continue reading “3 Reasons Your PV System Load Profile is Overinflated and How to Fix It”
How to Take the IGSHPA Geothermal Certification Exam This is a short video explaining how the IGSHPA Geothermal Installer Certification exam works. The process has changed significantly in the past year – for the better – and we’re excited about how easy it is for students to take… Continue reading “How to Take the IGSHPA Geothermal Certification Exam”
Interview: Battery Expert Christopher LaForge on the Tesla Powerwall The debut of the Tesla Powerwall has made quite a splash in many circles. Claiming to outperform current battery systems for solar, it has the potential to make a large impact on the storage side of the production of solar… Continue reading “Interview: Battery Expert Christopher LaForge on the Tesla Powerwall”
4 Reasons Commissioning on Larger Solar PV Systems is Important The article below is an excerpt from the discussion board of our last Solar Executive MBA cohort. Student A and Student B are interested in learning more about: The importance of commissioning on larger solar systems The potential volatility of SRECs… Continue reading “4 Reasons Commissioning on Larger Solar PV Systems is Important”
Interview: Financial Models and Sample Documents for Commercial Solar Projects I recently spoke with Chris Lord and Keith Cronin about some of the financial modeling tools and sample documents that they frequently use to teach solar professionals working on commercial projects. Chris and Keith, who co-teach our Solar Executive MBA… Continue reading “Interview: Financial Models and Sample Documents for Commercial Solar Projects”
Passive House Design: An Investment in the Future This is a guest post by Mike Duclos. He is a Certified Passive House Consultant and principal and founder of DEAP Energy Group, a consultancy providing a wide variety of deep energy retrofit, zero net energy, and Passive House related… Continue reading “Passive House Design: An Investment in the Future”
3+ Ways to Replace Spray Foam Insulation in Your Basement Here’s a discussion feed from one of our best-selling courses, Zero Net Energy Homes. In the discussion, one of our students asks Marc Rosenbaum for foam-free ways to retrofit her New England basement. Here are the alternatives to spray foam… Continue reading “3+ Ways to Replace Spray Foam Insulation in Your Basement”
How I Failed to Attract Venture Capital and What It Says About HeatSpring I spent the summer of 2014 raising money. More accurately, I spent the summer of 2014 pitching investors to help our company grow more quickly, failed, and cried about it. This is the story of what happened and what it… Continue reading “How I Failed to Attract Venture Capital and What It Says About HeatSpring”
The Top Challenges with Technical Qualification for Commercial Solar Projects This article will provide a snapshot of the current technical challenges that engineers and project managers face with the technical qualification of solar projects. Project qualification is a critical part of the commercial solar sales process. It’s where sales, technical… Continue reading “The Top Challenges with Technical Qualification for Commercial Solar Projects”
NABCEP Certification: How To Get It, What It’s Worth This is a presentation I gave this week in Cleveland at the ElectroExpo. The audience was pretty small, just fifteen folks attended, so it turned into an intimate conversation rather than a formal presentation. An honest discussion about business, renewable… Continue reading “NABCEP Certification: How To Get It, What It’s Worth”
SpaceNews, Charles Miller, and the Incredible Commercial Space Course This week SpaceNews signed on as our media partner for the next round of the “Commercial Space Executive Leadership” course developed in partnership with the AIAA. I don’t like hyperbole or excessive hype, even when I talk about work we’re… Continue reading “SpaceNews, Charles Miller, and the Incredible Commercial Space Course”
Solar Leases vs. Solar Loans vs. Utility Rates vs. Cash Purchase (Used with permission. Source: http://cinnamonsolar.com/about-us/lease-borrow-or-buy/) The graph above is one of my favorites about the residential solar industry. It explains exactly why residential solar leasing is dying. It was created by Barry Cinnamon from Cinnamon Solar as a sales tool… Continue reading “Solar Leases vs. Solar Loans vs. Utility Rates vs. Cash Purchase”
The #1 Online Resource for Heating Questions: HeatingHelp.com Looking for an answer to all of your heating questions? Ask Dan Holohan. He’s the founder of the #1 online resource for heating questions: HeatingHelp.com. If Dan doesn’t know the answer, “The Wall” will (read below to learn more). I don’t… Continue reading “The #1 Online Resource for Heating Questions: HeatingHelp.com”