A HeatSpring course is an online learning experience that will expose you to a wealth of new information, challenge you, provide a unique opportunity to learn directly from an expert in your industry, connect you with a network of peers, and, ultimately, transform your career. Your journey begins the moment you enroll and gain access to your online training materials.

Our courses are delivered through our platform and are taught by expert instructors with real-world experience who have a knack for passing their knowledge along to students. Students leave our courses with technical expertise and tools for taking their businesses and careers to the next level.

Students have unlimited access to the course materials for one year (365 days) after enrollment in a course. After the one year of access expires, students can extend access to the course materials by joining as a HeatSpring member. A single membership extends access to all past courses and also includes access to any updates made by the instructors, learn more about HeatSpring Membership.

Our online courses maximize flexibility and convenience while providing access to world-class instructors. Courses vary in length from free short courses to paid courses with ten or more modules packed with assignments. The assignments (videos, reading, quizzes, example problems, projects, etc.) and discussion board are organized into modules so you and your fellow students will be on the same general schedule. Aside from that, you are on your own to complete the assignments at your own pace.

There are no prerequisites required for any of our courses, even though most of them go into very advanced topics. We believe people learn in different ways and sometimes being thrown in 'over your head' is the way to go for a person or particular subject.

If you are unsure where to start, just contact us and we'd be happy to give you recommendations on what courses would be good for you based on your individual background and interests.

As explained in our Refund Policy and Terms we do not provide refunds. If you are unhappy with our services for some reason let us know and we will work to make it better. Depending upon our assessment of the circumstances of your dissatisfaction, we may allow you to use some portion of your payment as a credit towards a different course.

If you enroll in the wrong course by mistake please contact us immediately before accessing any course materials.

If you prefer to pay in installments, we provide financing and payment plan options at checkout. Just click the "take this course" button for the course you would like to enroll in and instead of using the credit card option, choose the "Klarna" option for installment payment plans with a simple account setup and instant approval. Once approved you will be redirected back to the checkout session and enrolled in the course.

Klarna

Klarna gives customers a range of payment options during checkout. Available payment options vary depending on the customer’s billing address and the transaction amount. In the US, Klarna offers a 4-payment plan as well as a longer term financing option. Klarna is available in the United States and Canada and also in a growing list of other countries.

If the course you want to take is out of reach financially you can also apply for financial aid using this link: https://www.heatspring.com/financial-aid

Financial aid applications are reviewed weekly so you'll receive a response pretty quickly. Heads up that we don't approve requests for full tuition.

1. Video length. HeatSpring courses use asynchronous video to deliver most of the lessons. You can see the exact number of minutes of video contained in each course. This number is the biggest factor in determining the number of CEUs a course gets approved for, and the estimated time to complete. This is easy to calculate.
2. Number and complexity of other assignment types. This is much harder to calculate because everybody learns differently. Some people are reviewing the material and fly through it quickly. We don’t want to slow them down and waste their time. Others are new to a topic and might review things multiple times. This is especially true in exam prep courses where they are preparing for a high-stakes exam. We want to encourage these learners to take as much time as they need. Non-video assignments fall into these general categories:
   1. Formative and summative assessments, like practice tests and quizzes.
   2. Reading assignments. Most reading assignments are optional and recommended, but in some courses there is substantial recommended reading.
   3. File submissions, including excel files and other homework assignments.
   4. Links and test assignments.

Yes! All HeatSpring videos have autogenerated English language captions on them.

Additionally, we are in the process of adding Spanish lanuage captions to our courses. If there is a course where you need Spanish language captions and we haven't updated it yet, please let us know at support@heatspring.com, so we can expedite the caption process.

While we love to help our students get skilled up, HeatSpring does not provide job placement services. Still, there are tons of great career resources at your disposal. Check out the following job board links if you are looking to get into a new climate action job:

Renewable Energy and Climate Jobs

• Climate Change Jobs
• Green Jobs Board
• ZeroHero
• My Climate Journey

Solar Jobs

• Solar Energy Industry Association
• NABCEP Career Center
• Solar Power Europe - SolarWorks Platform

Home Energy 

• Building Performance Institute
• Green Workforce Connect
• Building Performance Association

Yes! HeatSpring has a new iPhone app for enrolled students. You can scan this QR code to download it and log into your HeatSpring account with Google or your username and password. We built it for people already taking HeatSpring courses. It minimizes the number of clicks it takes to do your next assignment. It’s a nice alternative to Facebook or ESPN or whatever apps you reach for in those free moments. We figure if it’s easy to keep learning, you’ll be more likely to finish the course, pass your exam, and get where you want to go. 

The app isn’t for finding new courses - it really just does that one thing. This is a totally optional tool that nobody is require to use. But if you try it, let us know what you think!

Download the app, sign into your account, and you’ll see all of your courses. Pick one and get started. The app is the quickest way to complete your assignments, so you’ll finish courses more quickly.

Download the HeatSpring iOS app to:

• Access all of your course learning content

• Stream videos, take quizzes, and view resources while on the go

• Pick up where you left off: your course progress is automatically synced between the iPhone app and your web browser

• Easily jump from lecture to lecture and between courses

• Track your progress on a course-by-course basis

Using the HeatSpring iOS app is completely free. Once you’re enrolled in a course on HeatSpring, you get full access to the content by downloading the app.

It’s important to note that you can’t sign up for new courses in the app. There are no in-app purchases. It’s really just a tool for current students to access their learning content. You can sign up for new courses and access all of the HeatSpring functionality from any web browser.

Why release a mobile app now?

One-third of HeatSpring’s users arrive on their phone. So we’ve been thinking about building a HeatSpring app for fifteen years, but we could never satisfy these two criteria:

1. It can’t be super expensive to create and maintain. 

2. It can’t suck.

It was only in the past year that William (our lead developer) presented a simple approach that would be easy to maintain but also useful for customers. Importantly, the app is only built for students that are already enrolled in courses. The experience is simple and straightforward for them. Everybody else should continue using web version.

By constraining the users and purpose-building the app for them, we can be more focused and do less. That’s how we’ve finally arrived at a solution is affordable and doesn’t suck.

Why iOS? When will there be an Android version?

60% of our mobile users are on iPhones. The other 40% are on Android. So we started with the bigger audience and will move next to the Android app. 

We’re getting a lot of user feedback now. We’ll use that feedback to make the iOS app better over the next couple of months and when it’s at a stable point we will create the Android version.

How will you know if it is working?

The metric we’re watching is ‘engagement’. Two-thirds of our users are on desktop and 54% of their visits are ‘engaged visits’, where they spend time exploring and learning. Among iOS users, only 43% of their visits are engaged visits.

A lot of things could explain that lack of engagement on iPhones, but it would be cool if we could make those visits more valuable. Our business model doesn’t rely completely on eyeballs, but our value is tied to the quality of the learning experience and the outcomes we can help people achieve. So if we make it easier and more fun to learn, it makese sense that those engagement numbers will go up.

If we can improve engagement, we begin to impact downstream metrics like course completions, exam success, career advancement, and ultimately decaronization.

Solar Financial Modeling Courses

Our two most popular courses on solar finance are the Solar Executive MBA Training and Financial Modeling for Solar PV Projects. Both of these courses are taught by finance and legal expert Chris Lord, and the Solar Executive MBA Training is co-taught by solar business expert Keith Cronin.

We get a lot of questions about these courses, and many students want to compare the two. Often students take both of these courses as part of our Solar Finance Professional Certificate program.

First, let's review what both courses have in common:

For both courses:

• Participants get access to all content upon enrollment and for 1 full year after enrollment.
• The instructors answer questions on the discussion board and review required project work
• They are both intensive online courses intended for experienced professionals in the industry.
• An Excel financial model tool is included in the course materials and used for your project work. Each model is quite detailed (breakdown of costs, production, etc), but, more importantly, the models give you the tools and understanding to add any additional details you need.
• International students are welcome! Approximately 20-30% of the content is specific to the United States. The remaining 70-80% would apply to any location internationally. The instructors are very open and supportive of international students and projects.

Next, let's focus on the differences. The content is completely different in both courses, and the financial models used are also different. Other differences include:

Solar Executive MBA Training view detailed outline

• 6 modules
• Co-taught by Chris Lord and Keith Cronin
• Financial model is a little simpler but you get to learn more about the drivers behind tax equity, Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) depreciation, and investment tax credit (ITC). 
• Inputs for the model are geared a bit more toward a commercial-scale project, but the size can be scaled up or down as necessary.
• This is an advanced course, but it does have more introductory content intended for students who may have experience in solar or finance but desire a better understanding of how commercial solar projects are developed, structured, and financed.
• Also includes content related to selling, creating proposals, organizing your team, and increasing the profit margins of your projects.

Financial Modeling for Solar PV Projects view detailed outline

• 5 modules
• Taught by Chris Lord
• Financial model has more detail and is done as a quarterly model (a little more complex) and includes a more complex partnership flip model.
• Inputs for the model are geared a bit more toward a utility-scale project, but the size can be scaled up or down as necessary.
• Content focuses a little less on the technical/legal issues behind the tax equity investment. 
• More advanced content intended for students who already have a good general understanding of how solar projects are developed, structured, and financed.

Solar Finance Professional Certificate view more info

Complete both courses and earn your Solar Finance Masters Series Certificate. If you take both courses, we recommend starting with the Solar Executive MBA Training. Enroll in our series package for additional savings.