"[Joseph] Burdick, an engineer and former NREL researcher, said most locations in Colorado receive an average of five 'sun hours' per day, compared with just three to four in New England, for example. A typical 2,000-watt photovoltaic (PV) system here would generate 10 kilowatt hours per day, or 300 kwh per month, saving about $40 per month at current rates for power supplied by the local utility company."
"In their (PV roof shingles) first application in Colorado, a 1,500-watt system using Uni-Solar shingles was installed on Oct. 10, 1997, at an astronomical observatory atop 14,264-foot Mount Evans west of Denver."
Team Background
Our team is made up of renewable-energy experts who care deeply about changing our world in some very fundamental ways, such as: (a) reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil and gas imports, (b) providing our society with a wide variety of alternative energy choices, and, (c) doing all this without adversely affecting our environment or further contributing to global warming.
In following our dreams down this path, we have established ourselves as forward-thinking entrepreneurs who, for the past two decades, have been passionately involved in manufacturing, designing, installing, and deploying these various renewable energy technologies.
Joseph Burdick
• Currently president, principal technical and marketing director, and business manager of three LLCs (limited-liability companies)
whose mission is to provide technical solutions to energy and environmental problems, Joe has been involved in the
renewable-energy industry for over 25 years. He designs and installs photovoltaic and wind systems for residential, commercial,
government, and educational applications. Joe is a scientist who formerly worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL). He has authored or co-authored approximately twenty technical papers and publications in journals, books, and
conference proceedings; and has edited and reviewed newspaper and magazine technical articles.
• Joe has developed several pioneering photovoltaic measurement and characterization techniques.
• He has worked on standards committees to develop, advise, and author a wide variety of national and international standards for measurement and testing of photovoltaic devices, modules and systems.
• Joe is a long-standing member of the Colorado Renewable Enery Society (CRES) as well as the Colorado Solar Energy Industries
Association (CoSEIA).
Education:
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY, Pullman, Washington, M.S., Materials Science and Engineering
PURDUE UNIVERSITY, West Lafayette, Indiana, M.S., Physics
HOBART & WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES, Geneva, New York, B.S., Physics and General Science
But don’t let all of Joe’s degrees fool you. He likes to say that “he used to be a scientist, and now he’s a roofer”. This attitude has often led him into the field, carrying PV modules at a job site, or making sandwiches for his crew.
Dennis Beaver
Dennis is one of our mechanical installation design and installation supervisors. He has taken his extensive background in geology and computer hardware and software science and converted that passion into the renewable energy field, where he has designed and installed over 75 grid-tied and off-grid photovoltaic systems totaling nearly 300kW. He has over 150 hours of training in renewable energy courses, is NABCEP-certified, and is a member of the Colorado Solar Energy Industry Association (CoSEIA) and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES). He practices what he preaches – his home in Salida is PV-powered and heated by a solar hot-air system.
Tony Maday
Tony, one of our mechanical installation design and installation supervisors, has been a green remodel contractor for over 17 years with extensive hands-on experience in electrical, plumbing, carpentry, HVAC and project management. He has designed and installed over 300 kW of solar photovoltaic systems, both grid-tied and off-grid, for both residential and commercial applications. This includes several 15kW systems with ballasts and curbs, as well as ground-mounts and pole-mounts.
Ken Thames
Master Electrician
Ken Thames is our chief electrical installation supervisor. He founded and directs the Thames Electric Company and has been an electrical contractor for more than 20 years. He has been installing photovoltaic systems in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region for the past decade, and has thus added an expertise in DC systems to his previous proficiency with AC electrical contracting. He is CoSEIA- and NABCEP-certified and teaches many of the background, installation and certification classes for these, and other, organizations.
