Faster, Fresher, Better: Announcing Link Explorer, Moz's New Link Building Tool

Posted by SarahBird

More link data. Fresher link data. Faster link data.

Today, I’m delighted to share that after eons of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and love, Moz is taking a major step forward on our commitment to provide the best SEO tools money can buy.

We’ve rebuilt our link technology from the ground up and the data is now broadly available throughout Moz tools. It’s bigger, fresher, and much, much faster than our legacy link tech. And we’re just getting started! The best way to quickly understand the potential power of our revolutionary new link tech is to play with the beta of our Link Explorer.

Introducing Link Explorer, the newest addition to the Moz toolset!

We’ve heard your frustrations with Open Site Explorer and we know that you want more from Moz and your link building tools. OSE has done more than put in its time. Groundbreaking when it launched in 2008, it’s worked long and hard bring link data to the masses. It deserves the honor of a graceful retirement.

OSE represents our past; the new Link Explorer is our fast, innovative, ambitious future.

Here are some of my favorite things about the Link Explorer beta:

• It’s 20x larger and 30x fresher than OSE (RIP)
• Despite its huge index size, the app is lightning fast! I can’t stand waiting so this might be my number-one fav improvement.
• We’re introducing Link Tracking Lists to make managing your link building efforts a breeze. Sometimes the simple things make the biggest difference, like when they started making vans with doors on each side. You’ll never go back.
• Link Explorer includes historic data, a painful gap in OSE. Studying your gained/lost linking domains is fast and easy.
• The new UX surfaces competitive insights much more quickly
• Increases the size and freshness of the index improved the quality of Domain Authority and Spam Score. Voilà.

All this, and we’re only in beta.

Dive into your link data now!

Here’s a deeper dive into my favorites:

#1: The sheer size, quality, and speed of it all

We’re committed to data quality. Here are some ways that shows up in the Moz tools:

• When we collect rankings, we evaluate the natural first page of rankings to ensure that the placement and content of featured snippets and other SERP features are correctly situated (as can happen when ranking are collected in 50- or 100-page batches). This is more expensive, but we think the tradeoff is worth it.
• We were the first to build a hybrid search volume model using clickstream data. We still believe our model is the most accurate.
• Our SERP corpus, which powers Keywords by Site, is completely refreshed every two weeks. We actively update up to 15 million of the keywords each month to remove keywords that are no longer being searched and replace them with trending keywords and terms. This helps keep our keyword data set fresh and relevant.

The new Link Explorer index extends this commitment to data quality. OSE wasn’t cutting it and we’re thrilled to unleash this new tech.

Link Explorer is over 20x larger and 30x fresher than our legacy link index. Bonus points: the underlying technology is very cost-efficient, making it much less expensive for us to scale over time. This frees up resources to focus on feature delivery. BOOM!

One of my top pet peeves is waiting. I feel physical pain while waiting in lines and for apps to load. I can’t stand growing old waiting for a page to load (amirite?).

The new Link Explorer app is delightfully, impossibly fast. It’s like magic. That’s how link research should be. Magical.

#2: Historical data showing discovered and lost linking domains

If you’re a visual person, this report gives you an immediate idea of how your link building efforts are going. A spike you weren't expecting could be a sign of spam network monkey business. Deep-dive effortlessly on the links you lost and gained so you can spend your valuable time doing thoughtful, human outreach.

#3: Link Tracking Lists

Folks, this is a big one. Throw out (at least one of... ha. ha.) those unwieldy spreadsheets and get on board with Link Tracking Lists, because these are the future. Have you been chasing a link from a particular site? Wondering if your outreach emails have borne fruit yet? Want to know if you’ve successfully placed a link, and how you’re linking? Link Tracking Lists cut out a huge time-suck when it comes to checking back on which of your target sites have actually linked back to you.

Why announce the beta today?

We’re sharing this now for a few reasons:

• The new Link Explorer data and app have been available in beta to a limited audience. Even with a quiet, narrow release, the SEO community has been talking about it and asking good questions about our plans. Now that the Link Explorer beta is in broad release throughout all of Moz products and the broader Moz audience can play with it, we’re expecting even more curiosity and excitement.
• If you’re relying on our legacy link technology, this is further notice to shift your applications and reporting to the new-and-improved tech. OSE will be retired soon! We’re making it easier for API customers to get the new data by providing a translation layer for the legacy API.
• We want and need your feedback. We are committed to building the very best link building tool on the planet. You can expect us to invest heavily here. We need your help to guide our efforts and help us make the most impactful tradeoffs. This is your invitation to shape our roadmap.

Today’s release of our new Link Explorer technology is a revolution in Moz tools, not an evolution. We’ve made a major leap forward in our link index technology that delivers a ton of immediate value to Moz customers and the broader Moz Community.

Even though there are impactful improvements around the corner, this ambitious beta stands on its own two feet. OSE wasn’t cutting it and we’re proud of this new, fledgling tech.

What’s on the horizon for Link Explorer?

We’ve got even more features coming in the weeks and months ahead. Please let us know if we’re on the right track.

• Link Building Assistant: a way to quickly identify new link acquisition opportunities
• A more accurate and useful Link Intersect feature
• Link Alerts to notify you when you get a link from a URL you were tracking in a list
• Changes to how we count redirects: Currently we don't count links to a redirect as links to the target of the redirect (that's a lot of redirects), but we have this planned for the future.
• Significantly scaling up our crawling to further improve freshness and size

Go forth, and explore:

Try the new Link Explorer!

Tomorrow Russ Jones will be sharing a post that discusses the importance of quality metrics when it comes to a link index, and don’t miss our pinned Q&A post answering questions about Domain Authority and Page Authority changes or our FAQ in the Help Hub.

We’ll be releasing early and often. Watch this space, and don’t hold back your feedback. Help us shape the future of Links at Moz. We’re listening!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

A day like not other for SEI solar history

April 23 was a historic day for Solar Energy International (SEI). We inaugurated our first international Solar Training Center in Costa Rica. Since we started our Spanish Program in 2013, SEI has trained more than +9000 Spanish speakers. This new training center gives us the possibility to expand SEI’s world-class solar training to more Spanish-speaking professionals. SEI seeks to empower more people with solar education to improve the life quality of life in the communities in which they live, and to help them build a healthy solar industry in the region.

From the start

This project is the result of a 3-year educational relationship between SEI and its local partners CFIA (Federated College of Engineers and Architects of Costa Rica) and CIEMI (College of Electrical, Mechanical and Industrial Engineers). Since June 2016, the three organizations began planning the expansion of SEI’s training program for Spanish speakers to include our hands-on practical trainings. Designing and planning began in November 2017, and six months after that conversation started we launched our FV201L: Laboratorio Fotovoltaicos de Sistemas Conectados a la red course with a full class of 22 students from 6 countries.

While many members of the SEI team were involved in this development, some played a very active role to make this project a reality. Starting with our Latam Business Development Director Matthew Harris, our SEI Instructor and Curriculum Developer Karolina Fernandez, our Director of Campus and Hands-on Training Pete Mueller, Danny Bailey our PV Lab Manager, Rebekah Hren PV Curriculum Developer and Trainer, Sarah Wilder Director of Curriculum Development and Instruction, our instructors Chris Brooks and Brad Burkhatrzmeyer, Paulina Dunham Spanish Student Services Advisor & Training Coordinator and Pía Day Latam Marketing and Communication Manager.

And of course, SEI Executive Director Kathy Swartz whom is always leading SEI efforts to fulfill its vision of a world powered by renewable energy.

Our partners in Costa Rica, CIEMI and CFIA, worked with us side by side to make this happen, and we are very grateful for their commitment and dedication. They really understand the SEI spirit and will continue to keep our high quality standards on every SEI training provided in Costa Rica.

FUN NUMBERS

• +9000 Spanish-speaking students already trained with SEI.
• 18 Spanish-speaking countries reached with SEI  training, in addition to the large number of Spanish speakers residing in the United States.
• 175 days to plan, develop and install SEI’s training lab in Costa Rica.
• 22 students completed the quota for the first lab class in Costa Rica.
• 3 different solar stations available for the lab training in Costa Rica.

SEI Solar Training Center en CR, one of a kind in Latin America

The new international training center is located in the province of Cartago, Costa Rica. It is located within the facilities of the Integral Training Center Uxarrací CFIA (Federated College of Engineers and Architects). Which provides training and recreation spaces for professional and personal development of students and their families.

• Built to the same high quality standard as the SEI facilities in Paonia, CO. In compliance with the US National Electrical Code (NEC), which allows students to learn about the most up-to-date design and safety parameters.
• Designed in compliance with OSHA regulations that ensure the safest possible work environment.
• Installed with leading technologies and products available internationally.
• Equipped with safety elements such as harnesses, electric insulating gloves, helmets and protective glasses available for all students.

It has 3 solar PV systems where students can practice designing and installing three types of interconnected solar systems from beginning to end, guided by the most experienced instructors in the solar industry. At SEI we provide the opportunity for students to work with as many system configurations as possible in a week. In addition, SEI PV systems are completely modular. What is learned in 201L SEI lab week can be applied on a larger scale to install systems of any size in the future.

Meet the three stations installed for the 201L lab training in Costa Rica:

• Sloped Roof Lab Station 1- Inverter System with DC-to-DC converters (optimizers): This grid-connected PV system is installed on a sloped trapezoidal metal roof. It is mounted with a standard rail-based racking system. The inverter with optimizers creates a solution that meets very simple rapid shutdown requirements for residential and commercial systems. It also offers great design flexibility when there is partial shading, circuits of PV modules of unequal length, or different inclinations and orientations of the roof.
• Sloped Roof Lab Station 2- Microinverter System: Grid-connected PV system with  modules mounted on a rail-based racking structure anchored in landscape orientation to a sloping metal roof with microinverters. This interactive system uses 240V split-phase output microinverters, widely used in residential systems and in sites with partial shading. In addition, when installed on a sloped standing seam metal roof, the experience of working on a typical residential slope is included.
• Ground Mount Lab Station- String inverter System: Grid-connected PV system installed on the ground, similar to a typical large commercial system installation with metal racking on concrete piers. This system is designed with PV source circuits connected to a combiner box, and to a  240V split-phase string inverter with AC and DC disconnects.

The SEI experience also in Costa Rica

If you ask any student who has traveled to take our courses on the SEI campus in Paonia, CO they can tell you that it is much more than an educational experience. Paonia is a magical place that invites you to connect with your learning experience from a different place, in harmony with nature and accompanied by colleagues and instructors who share your passion for solar energy. The beauty of the landscapes that surround the campus, the small town that you can travel on riding one of the bikes available to students, the warmth of its people, the activities you can do in your free time, everything transports you to a parallel dimension outside your daily routine.

We’ve done our best to replicate this same experience at the campus in Costa Rica, where the incredible vegetation of the Ujarras Valley offers a unique landscape, the Lake Cachi and the waterfalls that you can ride to on the bicycles that SEI provides to students, the small towns that surround the campus creates the perfect learning environment. Plus the beauty of the Uxarrací center where the solar lab is located with its facilities available for a large number of recreational activities, make the magic of the SEI experience transcend all borders.

What are you waiting for? Start your solar career with SEI! Check the calendar for courses in Costa Rica and save your spot with time. Classes are feeling fast!

The post A day like not other for SEI solar history appeared first on Solar Training - Solar Installer Training - Solar PV Installation Training - Solar Energy Courses - Renewable Energy Education - NABCEP - Solar Energy International (SEI).

You won’t want to miss this! What makes SEI’s campus in Paonia, Colorado so special? [VIDEO]

The sky is speckled with stars as far as the eye can see as you sit around a roaring campfire, ukulele and laughter abound in the background as tent flaps ripple in the wind, the moon’s distorted reflection stares back at you from a solar panel–no, you are not at summer camp (although it feels like it), you are at Solar Energy International (SEI)’s campus in scenic Paonia, Colorado.

Hiking on a mountain trail system in town, road biking on expansive country roads rolling over mesas and across an uninterrupted landscape, enjoying wineries and craft beers, all in the shadow of the West Elk Mountain Range, these are just some of the gems that our campus in Western Colorado has to offer. Students at our campus learn from top-notch instructors with the help of industry-leading technology in our lab yard while enjoying one of the most unique and precious landscapes in the Western United States. The holistic experience of Paonia is hard to capture in words, so we tried our best to show you what makes our campus so special in this video about our Western, CO headquarters.

Are you ready to embark on your solar training vacation? In the words of famed outdoorsmen John Muir, the mountains are calling… Check out our online class schedule for the full list of our in-person summer and fall class sessions.

The post You won’t want to miss this! What makes SEI’s campus in Paonia, Colorado so special? [VIDEO] appeared first on Solar Training - Solar Installer Training - Solar PV Installation Training - Solar Energy Courses - Renewable Energy Education - NABCEP - Solar Energy International (SEI).

Renewables Generated 103 Percent of Portugal’s Electricity Consumption in March

Portugal’s renewable electricity production (mostly from hydropower and wind energy) exceeded monthly consumption in March. The average renewable generation for the month exceeded 103.6 percent of consumption. According to the nation’s transmission system operator, renewable energy production reached 4,812 gigawatt hours, surpassing Portugal’s total electricity needs for March, which totalled 4,647 gigawatt hours. But that does not mean that Portugal’s electric system can rely solely on renewable energy. At least, some say, not until 2040—over 20 years from now—will that be able to happen in a cost effective way.

Portugal is in a somewhat unique situation in that it gets a considerable amount of electricity from hydroelectric power—55 percent last month—due to higher-than-usual rainfall. Wind added 42 percent. But, fossil fuels and imported electricity were also needed because wind and solar power are intermittent energy sources. Portugal’s grid operated on 100 percent renewable energy for only relatively short periods—just two 70 hour spans. Electricity imports and fossil fuel generation were needed to balance the grid when solar and wind power were not available.  Portugal also has among the highest electricity prices in Europe, and when adjusted for purchasing power, its electricity is the most expensive in the European Union.

The variability in renewable power can be seen by contrasting this year’s March electricity production to last year’s. During the same period last year, renewable energy supplied just 62 percent of Portugal’s electricity—partly because of a drought that reduced its hydroelectric production.

Why 2040?

What’s missing is a way to store any excess energy that renewables generate for use when that energy is no longer supplying power.For example, on March 11, Portugal generated 143 percent of its power from renewables but it did not have the storage capacity from advanced batteries or pumped hydro to enable the power to be used at a later time. But, the economics of advanced battery technology is a long way off. Clearly, storage solutions are still not developed enough to satisfy energy needs.

The European Union’s energy plans calls for interconnectors, especially electricity cables, to allow surplus energy to be shifted from one member state to another depending on demand. Member states are supposed to hit a 10 percent interconnection target by 2020, meaning a tenth of generated electricity can be exported across borders, but EU countries are lagging behind that goal.

Portugal wants to overcome its isolation from the rest of Europe through third-party interconnectors. In this vein, a cable across the mouth of the Mediterranean to Morocco is being constructed.

Electricity Price Impact

As the renewable production rose, the price of electricity fell by about 10 percent compared to the year before. But, that is little consolation since Portugal’s electricity prices are among the highest in the European Union.

The statistics below show electricity prices for households in Portugal semi-annually from 2010 to 2017. For example, in the first half of 2017, the average electricity price for households was 22.84 euro cents per kilowatt hour (28.22 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour).  That’s more than double the U.S. residential price of electricity.

Electricity prices for households in Portugal from 2010 to 2017, semi-annually (in euro cents per kilowatt-hour)

Source: Statista

Conclusion

Weather conditions in Portugal during March of 2018 helped production from renewable sources with wet and windy weather producing high levels of hydroelectric and wind generated electricity. Despite these high renewable levels, renewable energy was not able to be produced when needed, so imported electricity and fossil fuel generation were used to keep the lights on. Because batteries and other advanced storage technologies are not currently cost-effective, the excess generation from renewables cannot be stored to be used at a later time. Portugal does not expect to be 100 percent renewable until 2040, and it already pays more than twice what people in the United States do for electricity.

The post Renewables Generated 103 Percent of Portugal’s Electricity Consumption in March appeared first on IER.

Camping on campus now available for in-person training sessions

Are you traveling to our Paonia, Colorado campus for solar training from out of town and looking for cheap lodging options during your stay? We have good news! Solar Energy International (SEI) is now offering camping on our campus just steps away from our main office and PV lab yard.

On-site camping is being offered on a limited basis to students who want to camp on campus during their in-person solar energy training.  There are two sites are available for tent camping and two sites available for vehicles (no RVs, only truck or van campers). This camping option is first come, first serve and includes access to our student lounge with microwave, fridge, potable water and Port-a-Potties.  

“A lot of people choose to camp on campus during their stay in Paonia. It’s a great, cost-effective option, and we do our best to make sure it’s comfortable for students. It’s definitely a cool place to camp during the summer!” Director of Campus and Hands-On Training Pete Mueller, said.

This camping will be available for classes such as PV201L: Solar Training- Solar Electric Lab Week (Grid-Direct) coming up on June 18 and July 23, and PV301L: Solar Training- Solar Electric Lab Week (Battery-Based), coming up on June 25 and August 13.

Please contact our registration department for more information at 970-527-7657 option 1.

More information on classes:

PV201L: Solar Training- Solar Electric Lab Week (Grid-Direct)

Put the classroom theory into practice with the ultimate hands-­on PV experience available! This five day lab class offers students the opportunity to work closely with experienced PV professionals. You will gain valuable insight and experience while installing and commissioning multiple PV systems consisting of modules, inverters, and racking components from a wide range of manufacturers that are all big players in the PV industry. A low student-to-instructor ratio and the world­-class lab facility at SEI’s home base in Paonia, Colorado combine to make PV201L the perfect environment for your first hands­-on PV experience.

PV301L: Solar Training-Solar Electric Lab Week (Battery-Based)

This five day lab class is an amazing opportunity to get hands-­on experience with a wide range of battery-­based PV system components and architectures at SEI’s world­-class lab facility in Paonia, Colorado. Working in small groups with instructors who live and breathe battery-­based PV, students install, test, and commission numerous PV systems with energy storage that address a wide range of applications. The labs in PV301L consist of stand­-alone and multimode PV systems, and include AC and DC coupled equipment. Many experienced solar professionals have never worked with batteries – this is your chance to leap to the front of the pack!

The post Camping on campus now available for in-person training sessions appeared first on Solar Training - Solar Installer Training - Solar PV Installation Training - Solar Energy Courses - Renewable Energy Education - NABCEP - Solar Energy International (SEI).

Content for Answers: The Inverted Pyramid - Whiteboard Friday

Posted by Dr-Pete

If you've been searching for a quick hack to write content for featured snippets, this isn't the article for you. But if you're looking for lasting results and a smart tactic to increase your chances of winning a snippet, you're definitely in the right place.

Borrowed from journalism, the inverted pyramid method of writing can help you craft intentional, compelling, rich content that will help you rank for multiple queries and win more than one snippet at a time. Learn how in this Whiteboard Friday starring the one and only Dr. Pete!

Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!

Video Transcription

Hey, Moz fans, Dr. Pete here. I'm the Marketing Scientist at Moz and visiting you from not-so-sunny Chicago in the Seattle office. We've talked a lot in the last couple years in my blog posts and such about featured snippets.

So these are answers that kind of cross with organic. So it's an answer box, but you get the attribution and the link. Britney has done some great Whiteboard Fridays, the last couple, about how you do research for featured snippets and how you look for good questions to answer. But I want to talk about something that we don't cover very much, which is how to write content for answers.

The inverted pyramid style of content writing

It's tough, because I'm a content marketer and I don't like to think that there's a trick to content. I'm afraid to give people the kind of tricks that would have them run off and write lousy, thin content. But there is a technique that works that I think has been very effective for featured snippets for writing for questions and answers. It comes from the world of journalism, which gives me a little more faith in its credibility. So I want to talk to you about that today. That's called the inverted pyramid.

1. Start with the lead

It looks something like this. When you write a story as a journalist, you start with the lead. You lead with the lead. So if we have a story like "Penguins Rob a Bank," which would be a strange story, we want to put that right out front. That's interesting. Penguins rob a bank, that's all you need to know. The thing about it is, and this is true back to print, especially when we had to buy each newspaper. We weren't subscribers. But definitely on the web, you have to get people's attention quickly. You have to draw them in. You have to have that headline.

2. Go into the details

So leading with the lead is all about pulling them in to see if they're interested and grabbing their attention. The inverted pyramid, then you get into the smaller pieces. Then you get to the details. You might talk about how many penguins were there and what bank did they rob and how much money did they take.

3. Move to the context

Then you're going to move to the context. That might be the history of penguin crime in America and penguin ties to the mafia and what does this say about penguin culture and what are we going to do about this. So then it gets into kind of the speculation and the value add that you as an expert might have.

How does this apply to answering questions for SEO?

So how does this apply to answering questions in an SEO context?

Lead with the answer, get into the details and data, then address the sub-questions.

Well, what you can do is lead with the answer. If somebody's asked you a question, you have that snippet, go straight to the summary of the answer. Tell them what they want to know and then get into the details and get into the data. Add those things that give you credibility and that show your expertise. Then you can talk about context.

But I think what's interesting with answers — and I'll talk about this in a minute — is getting into these sub-questions, talking about if you have a very big, broad question, that's going to dive up into a lot of follow-ups. People who are interested are going to want to know about those follow-ups. So go ahead and answer those.

If I win a featured snippet, will people click on my answer? Should I give everything away?

So I think there's a fear we have. What if we answer the question and Google puts it in that box? Here's the question and that's the query. It shows the answer. Are people going to click? What's going to happen? Should we be giving everything away? Yes, I think, and there are a couple reasons.

Questions that can be very easily answered should be avoided

First, I want you to be careful. Britney has gotten into some of this. This is a separate topic on its own. You don't always want to answer questions that can be very easily answered. We've already seen that with the Knowledge Graph. Google says something like time and date or a fact about a person, anything that can come from that Knowledge Graph. "How tall was Abraham Lincoln?" That's answered and done, and they're already replacing those answers.

Answer how-to questions and questions with rich context instead

So you want to answer the kinds of things, the how-to questions and the why questions that have a rich enough context to get people interested. In those cases, I don't think you have to be afraid to give that away, and I'm going to tell you why. This is more of a UX perspective. If somebody asks this question and they see that little teaser of your answer and it's credible, they're going to click through.

"Giving away" the answer builds your credibility and earns more qualified visitors

So here you've got the penguin. He's flushed with cash. He's looking for money to spend. We're not going to worry about the ethics of how he got his money. You don't know. It's okay. Then he's going to click through to your link. You know you have your branding and hopefully it looks professional, Pyramid Inc., and he sees that question again and he sees that answer again.

Giving the searcher a "scent trail" builds trust

If you're afraid that that's repetitive, I think the good thing about that is this gives him what we call a scent trail. He can see that, "You know what? Yes, this is the page I meant to click on. This is relevant. I'm in the right place." Then you get to the details, and then you get to the data and you give this trail of credibility that gives them more to go after and shows your expertise.

People who want an easy answer aren't the kind of visitors that convert

I think the good thing about that is we're so afraid to give something away because then somebody might not click. But the kind of people who just wanted that answer and clicked, they're not the kind of people that are going to convert. They're not qualified leads. So these people that see this and see it as credible and want to go read more, they're the qualified leads. They're the kind of people that are going to give you that money.

So I don't think we should be afraid of this. Don't give away the easy answers. I think if you're in the easy answer business, you're in trouble right now anyway, to be honest. That's a tough topic. But give them something that guides them to the path of your answer and gives them more information.

How does this tactic work in the real world?

Thin content isn't credible.

So I'm going to talk about how that looks in a more real context. My fear is this. Don't take this and run off and say write a bunch of pages that are just a question and a paragraph and a ton of thin content and answering hundreds and hundreds of questions. I think that can really look thin to Google. So you don't want pages that are like question, answer, buy my stuff. It doesn't look credible. You're not going to convert. I think those pages are going to look thin to Google, and you're going to end up spinning out many, many hundreds of them. I've seen people do that.

Use the inverted pyramid to build richer content and lead to your CTA

What I'd like to see you do is craft this kind of question page. This is something that takes a fair amount of time and effort. You have that question. You lead with that answer. You're at the top of the pyramid. Get into the details. Get into the things that people who are really interested in this would want to know and let them build up to that. Then get into data. If you have original data, if you have something you can contribute that no one else can, that's great.

Then go ahead and answer those sub-questions, because the people who are really interested in that question will have follow-ups. If you're the person who can answer that follow-up, that makes for a very, very credible piece of content, and not just something that can rank for this snippet, but something that really is useful for anybody who finds it in any way.

So I think this is great content to have. Then if you want some kind of call to action, like a "Learn More," that's contextual, I think this is a page that will attract qualified leads and convert.

Moz's example: What is a Title Tag?

So I want to give you an example. This is something we've used a lot on Moz in the Learning Center. So, obviously, we have the Moz blog, but we also have these permanent pages that answer kind of the big questions that people always have. So we have one on the title tag, obviously a big topic in SEO.

Here's what this page looks like. So we go right to the question: What is a title tag? We give the answer: A title tag is an HTML element that does this and this and is useful for SEO, etc. Right there in the paragraph. That's in the featured snippet. That's okay. If that's all someone wants to know and they see that Moz answered that, great, no problem.

But naturally, the people who ask that question, they really want to know: What does this do? What's it good for? How does it help my SEO? How do I write one? So we dug in and we ended up combining three or four pieces of content into one large piece of content, and we get into some pretty rich things. So we have a preview tool that's been popular. We give a code sample. We show how it might look in HTML. It gives it kind of a visual richness. Then we start to get into these sub-questions. Why are title tags important? How do I write a good title tag?

One page can gain the ability to rank for hundreds of questions and phrases

What's interesting, because I think sometimes people want to split up all the questions because they're afraid that they have to have one question per page, what's interesting is that I think looked the other day, this was ranking in our 40 million keyword set for over 200 phrases, over 200 questions. So it's ranking for things like "what is a title tag," but it's also ranking for things like "how do I write a good title tag." So you don't have to be afraid of that. If this is a rich, solid piece of content that people are going to, you're going to rank for these sub-questions, in many cases, and you're going to get featured snippets for those as well.

Then, when people have gotten through all of this, we can give them something like, "Hey, Moz has some of these tools. You can help write richer title tags. We can check your title tags. Why don't you try a free 30-day trial?" Obviously, we're experimenting with that, and you don't want to push too hard, but this becomes a very rich piece of content. We can answer multiple questions, and you actually have multiple opportunities to get featured snippets.

So I think this inverted pyramid technique is legitimate. I think it can help you write good content that's a win-win. It's good for SEO. It's good for your visitors, and it will hopefully help you land some featured snippets.

So I'd love to hear about what kind of questions you're writing content for, how you can break that up, how you can answer that, and I'd love to discuss that with you. So we'll see you in the comments. Thank you.

Video transcription by Speechpad.com

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Win a Ticket + Lodging to MozCon 2018!

Posted by ErinMcCaul

Have you been wanting to come to MozCon but just can’t swing the budget? Want to take a selfie with Roger, meet like-minded friends at our afterparties, and learn from leading industry experts? I’m thrilled to announce that you can do it all by winning a free ticket to join us at MozCon this July!

Those front-row seats look awfully cushy.

I’m one of the behind-the-scenes house elves who helps make MozCon happen, and I’m here to tell you everything you need to know about entering to win!

To enter, just submit a unique piece of content telling us why we should send you to MozCon by Sunday May 6th at 5pm PDT. Make sure your entry is both original and creative — the Moz staff will review all submissions and vote on the winner! If you’re chosen, we’ll pick up the tab for your registration and accommodations at the Grand Hyatt. You’ll also have a reserved VIP seat in our front row, and an invite to mix and mingle at our pre-event MozCon speakers’ dinner!

Without further ado, here’s the scoop:

Step 1: Create!

Create a unique, compelling piece of content telling us why you want to come to MozCon. Past ideas have included:

• Drawings
• Videos (must be one minute or less)
• Blog posts
• Original songs
• Books
• Slide decks
• Anything else you can cook up!

Don’t feel limited by these examples. Is this the year we’ll see a Lego Roger stop-motion film, a MozCon-inspired show tune, or Roger-themed sugar cookies? The sky's the limit, my friends! (But think hard about trying your hand at those cookies.)

Step 2: Submit!

Once you’re ready to throw your hat in the game, tweet us a link @Moz and use the hashtag #MozConVIP by Sunday May 6th at 5pm PDT. Make sure to follow the instructions, and include your name and email address somewhere easily visible within your content. To keep things fair, there will be no exceptions to the rules. We need to be able to contact you if you’re our lucky winner!

Let’s recap:

• The submission deadline is Sunday May 6th at 5pm PDT.
• Mozzers will vote on all the entries based on the creativity and uniqueness of the content
• We’ll announce the winning entry from @Moz via Twitter on Friday, May 11. You must be able to attend MozCon, July 9–11 2018, in Seattle. Prizes are non-transferable.
• All submissions must adhere to the MozCon Code of Conduct
• Content is void where prohibited by law.
• The value of the prize will be reported for tax purposes as required by law; the winner will receive an IRS form 1099 at the end of the calendar year and a copy of such form will be filed with the IRS. The winner is solely responsible for reporting and paying any and all applicable taxes related to the prizes and paying any expenses associated with any prize which are not specifically provided for in the official rules.

Our lucky winner will receive:

• A free ticket to MozCon 2018, including optional VIP front-row seating and an invitation to our speakers’ dinner (valued at $1,500+)
• Accommodations with a suite upgrade at the Grand Hyatt from July 8–12, 2018 (valued at $1,300+)

Alright, that’s wrap. I can’t wait to see what you folks come up with! Happy creating!

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Krugman Misleads on Renewables

From his perch at the NYT, economist Paul Krugman has launched another attack on people with different political views. In this most recent piece, Krugman opens by informing readers that “Peter Thiel, Facebook investor and Donald Trump supporter, is by all accounts a terrible person.” Krugman then uses this casual insult to segue into discussing the amazing strides in renewables technology, and how the Trump Administration is doing what it can to hinder progress and threaten humanity.

However, even though the title of his article (which the editors may have picked) accuses Thiel and other Trump supporters as being “liars,” it is actually Krugman whose column is at best misleading. Yes, it is true that newly installed wind power—though not solar—is now becoming competitive with natural gas.

But that doesn’t mean it will be painless to eliminate fossil fuels, because of the difference between operating and installation costs, and because of the intermittency problems with wind and solar. Standard estimates put out by the federal government show that renewables (including hydro) will still account for only 16 and 18 percent of U.S. and global energy consumption (respectively) by mid-century. As we at IER explained last summer, there are some 1,600 coal-fired power plants planned or already under construction in 62 countries around the world.

If wind and solar were really the no-brainer that Krugman assures us, he and his allies wouldn’t be calling for government restrictions on coal or subsidies to renewables. He would agree with IER that competition and market prices are the best vehicles for delivery affordable and reliable energy to consumers.

Krugman’s Optimism on Renewables

To show that I’m not attacking a strawman, let’s allow Krugman to make his case in his own words:

Believers in the primacy of fossil fuels, coal in particular, are now technological dead-enders; they, not foolish leftists, are our modern Luddites….

About the technology: As recently as 2010, it still consistently cost more to generate electricity from sun and wind than from fossil fuels. But that gap has already been eliminated, and this is just the beginning….

To paraphrase the science-fiction writer William Gibson, the renewable energy future is already pretty much here; it’s just not very evenly distributed.

…

[T]here is no longer any reason to believe that it would be hard to drastically “decarbonize” the economy. Indeed, there is no reason to believe that doing so would impose any significant economic cost. The realistic debate is about how hard it will be to get from 80 to 100 percent decarbonization. [Krugman, bold added.]

The interested reader can digest Krugman’s entire piece for caveats, such as his admission that yes, intermittency is an issue. But as the passages above make clear, Krugman is quite plainly telling his readers that wind and solar are already competitive with fossil fuels, and that their edge will only increase. He literally says “the renewable energy future is already pretty much here.”

Well, this is only true, if by “already pretty much here” Krugman means “maybe in 75 years.” I’ll give some evidence in the next section.

What the Technical Literature Actually Says About Renewables

If we consult the reports of the Energy Information Administration (EIA), we see a much different picture from the one Krugman painted. For starters, it’s true that the 2018 Annual Energy Outlook says newly installed onshore wind is now competitive with natural gas, but solar isn’t:

Source: EIA

As the table indicates, under “Total system LCOE [levelized cost of electricity],” new generation in conventional combined-cycle natural gas costs $48.30 per megawatt-hour, whereas onshore wind costs $48.00. Yet offshore wind is still a whopping $124.60, and photovoltaic (PV) solar is still $59.10. (The cheapest source listed is actually geothermal, at $43.10 per new megawatt-hour.)

So if this is the case, and we can expect further improvements as people gain more experience with renewables, does the EIA project a massive switch in energy sources? Not at all. Here is the chart showing EIA’s latest projections in the baseline “reference case” for the United States:

Source: EIA

As the chart reveals, it is only by mid-century that renewables (other than hydro) surpass coal, and they are a far cry from supplanting fossil fuels altogether. Indeed, the EIA’s tables show that by 2050, renewable sources (including hydro) account for only 16 percent of U.S. energy consumption, while petroleum and other liquids account for 34 percent, natural gas for 33 percent, and coal for 12 percent. So for those keeping score at home, EIA projects that under current policies, by the year 2050 Americans will get about 16 percent of their energy from renewables (including hydro), and 78 percent from fossil fuels.[i] Not exactly the picture Krugman painted, is it?

EIA has a similar projection for long-term global energy consumption:

Source: EIA

Referring to EIA’s table for more specifics, we see that by 2050, all renewables (including hydroelectric power) provide for about 18 percent of global energy demand. Fossil fuels, in contrast, provide for 77 percent. (Nuclear picks up the balance at 5 percent.)

So we see that Krugman’s claims bear no relationship to the facts, unless he meant, “At some point, humanity will no longer need to use coal.” Well, yes, that’s not a false statement, but who disputes that? The actual policy disputes concern whether, say, plans to hit the goals of the Paris climate treaty will cause intolerable economic losses.

The Literature Agrees That Total Decarbonization Currently Infeasible

Finally, let’s consider Krugman’s claim that, “The realistic debate is about how hard it will be to get from 80 to 100 percent decarbonization.” Interestingly, Krugman’s buddy—in the sense that he cites him favorably—David Roberts at Vox has an article on this very topic.

Specifically, Roberts looked at recent studies of the technical literature to see how feasible it would be to completely “decarbonize” the economy. To end your suspense: it’s not.

For example, Roberts reviewed a study that “examines 24 scenarios for 100 percent renewable energy with enough detail to be credible. It then judges them against four criteria for feasibility…” And lo and behold, it turns out that all 24 scenarios failed, with the highest scoring one garnering only 4 out of a possible 7 points.

Now I want to stress, this is not the answer that guys like Roberts (or Krugman) want. And so let me provide some quotations from Roberts’ Vox article, to show how he wants to fan the flames of hope even though the technical literature didn’t give the answer that decarbonization hawks would have preferred.

First, here is Roberts’ initial reaction, after dropping the bombshell that nobody had proposed a solution to the demands:

It’s reasonable to ask whether we need that much confidence to begin planning for long-term decarbonization. If any new system must demonstrate in advance that it is fully prepared to substitute for today’s system, it’s going to be difficult to change the system at all (bold added).

So that’s a neat trick: Activists say we need to decarbonize, the critics point out it can’t be done, and the activists retort, “Let’s start anyway!” because otherwise those naysaying defeatists would win.

But an even funnier quotation comes later in Roberts’ article, when he declares:

It pays to be careful with literature reviews. They are generally more reliable than single studies, but they are exercises in interpretation, colored by the assumptions of their authors. And there’s always a danger that they are simply compiling common biases and limitations in current models — reifying conventional wisdom (bold added).

I wonder: Do climate “skeptics” get to use this same attitude? Can they “be careful with literature reviews,” when the reviews spit out the wrong answer? Do they get to throw out the “current models” because of their “common biases and limitations”?

Of course not. When the computer models produce results that Roberts et al. like, then it’s “consensus science” and anyone who doubts it is a “denier.”

So back to Krugman, when he says that the current debate is over how much we can easily decarbonize the economy, keep in mind that this “debate” has guys like Roberts writing—and again I quote from his Vox article—rigorous statements like this:

Models today cannot capture the effects of technologies and techniques that have not yet been developed. But this stuff is the subject of intense research, experimentation, and innovation right now.

It is viewed as irresponsible to include speculative new developments in models, but at the same time, it’s a safe bet that the energy world will see dramatic changes in the next few decades. Far more balancing options will be available to future modelers. [Bold added.]

To be clear, I don’t have a problem with the above mindset. But it would be nice if there were some consistency here. When guys like me point out that humans have adapted and solved problems in the past, and so climate change doesn’t pose an existential threat to the planet the way Krugman tells us, then we are denounced as pie-in-the-sky fools, grasping at straws for low-cost solutions that may not develop in time.

But on the other hand, when guys like me point out that the actual and proposed government interventions into the energy sector will raise prices and reduce economic growth, Krugman and his allies rely on magic asterisks to make their climate targets painless. They need to make up their minds.

Conclusion

As we’ve seen, the rumors of conventional energy sources’ death have been greatly exaggerated.[ii] As I always ask when proponents of renewables tout their cost-effectiveness: why then do you support government intervention in the energy markets? If and when it makes economic sense for wind and solar to expand in electricity generation, market forces will foster that outcome. If and when it makes economic sense for Americans to phase in electric cars, then prices will spontaneously lead to that occurring. Writers like Krugman want to have it both ways: He tells us—sometimes in the same column—that only “deniers” and “liars” think fossil fuels have a future, but also that the government needs to ban coal while subsidizing renewables or else our children are dead. Which is it?

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[i] The “petroleum and other liquids” includes 1 percentage point attributable to biofuels, which I have removed from my figure for fossil fuels.

[ii] Apparently the expression commonly attributed to Mark Twain is a slight misquotation, but it’s good enough for energy policy analysis.

The post Krugman Misleads on Renewables appeared first on IER.

How We Got a 32% Organic Traffic Boost from 4 On-Page SEO Changes [Case Study]

Posted by WallStreetOasis.com

My name is Patrick Curtis, and I'm the founder and CEO of Wall Street Oasis, an online community focused on careers in finance founded in 2006 with over 2 million visits per month.

User-generated content and long-tail organic traffic is what has built our business and community over the last 12+ years. But what happens if you wake up one day and realize that your growth has suddenly stopped? This is what happened to us back in November 2012.

In this case study, I’ll highlight two of our main SEO problems as a large forum with over 200,000 URLs, then describe two solutions that finally helped us regain our growth trajectory — almost five years later.

Two main problems

1. Algorithm change impacts

Ever since November 2012, Google’s algo changes have seemed to hurt many online forums like ours. Even though our traffic didn’t decline, our growth dropped to the single-digit percentages. No matter what we tried, we couldn’t break through our “plateau of pain” (I call it that because it was a painful ~5 years trying).

2. Quality of user-generated content

Related to the first problem, 99% of our content is user-generated (UGC) which means the quality is mixed (to put it kindly). Like most forum-based sites, some of our members create incredible pieces of content, but a meaningful percentage of our content is also admittedly thin and/or low-quality.

How could we deal with over 200,000 pieces of content efficiently and try to optimize them without going bankrupt? How could we “clean the cruft” when there was just so much of it?

Fighting back: Two solutions (and one statistical analysis to show how it worked)

1. "Merge and Purge" project

Our goal was to consolidate weaker “children” URLs into stronger “master” URLs to utilize some of the valuable content Google was ignoring and to make the user experience better.

For example, instead of having ~20 discussions on a specific topic (each with an average of around two to three comments) across twelve years, we would consolidate many of those discussions into the strongest two or three URLs (each with around 20–30 comments), leading to a much better user experience with less need to search and jump around the site.

Changes included taking the original post and comments from a “child” URL and merging them into the “master” URL, unpublishing the child URL, removing the child from sitemap, and adding a 301 redirect to the master.

Below is an example of how it looked when we merged a child into our popular Why Investment Banking discussion. We highlighted the original child post as a Related Topic with a blue border and included the original post date to help avoid confusion:

This was a massive project that involved some complex Excel sorting, but after 18 months and about $50,000 invested (27,418 children merged into 8,515 masters to date), the user experience, site architecture, and organization is much better.

Initial analysis suggests that the percentage gain from merging weak children URLs into stronger masters has given us a boost of ~10–15% in organic search traffic.

2. The Content Optimization Team

The goal of this initiative was to take the top landing pages that already existed on Wall Street Oasis and make sure that they were both higher quality and optimized for SEO. What does that mean, exactly, and how did we execute it?

We needed a dedicated team that had some baseline industry knowledge. To that end, we formed a team of five interns from the community, due to the fact that they were familiar with the common topics.

We looked at the top ~200 URLs over the previous 90 days (by organic landing page traffic) and listed them out in a spreadsheet:

We held five main hypotheses of what we believed would boost organic traffic before we started this project:

1. Longer content with subtitles: Increasing the length of the content and adding relevant H2 and H3 subtitles to give the reader more detailed and useful information in an organized fashion.
2. Changing the H1 so that it matched more high-volume keywords using Moz’s Keyword Explorer.
3. Changing the URL so that it also was a better match to high-volume and relevant keywords.
4. Adding a relevant image or graphic to help break up large “walls of text” and enrich the content.
5. Adding a relevant video similar to the graphic, but also to help increase time on page and enrich the content around the topic.

We tracked all five of these changes across all 200 URLs (see image above). After a statistical analysis, we learned that four of them helped our organic search traffic and one actually hurt.

Summary of results from our statistical analysis

• Increasing the length of the articles and adding relevant subtitles (H2s, H3s, and H4s) to help organize the content gives an average boost to organic traffic of 14%
• Improving the title or H1 of the URLs yields a 9% increase on average
• Changing the URL decreased traffic on average by 38% (this was a smaller sample size — we stopped doing this early on for obvious reasons)
• Including a relevant video increases the organic traffic by 4% on average, while putting an image up increases it by 5% on average.

Overall, the boost to organic traffic — should we continue to make these four changes (and avoid changing the URL) — is 32% on average.

Key takeaway:

Over half of that gain (~18%) comes from changes that require a minimal investment of time. For teams trying to optimize on-page SEO across a large number of pages, we recommend focusing on the top landing pages first and easy wins before deciding if further investment is warranted.

We hope this case study of our on-page SEO efforts was interesting, and I’m happy to answer any questions you have in the comments!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

The SEO Quick Fix: Competitor Keywords, Redirect Chains, and Duplicate Content, Oh My!

Posted by ErinMcCaul

I have a eight-month-old baby. As a mom my time is at a premium, and I’ve come to appreciate functionalities I didn’t know existed in things I already pay for. My HBONow subscription has Game of Thrones AND Sesame Street? Fantastic! Overnight diapers can save me a trip to the tiny airplane bathroom on a quick flight? Sweet! Oxiclean keeps my towels fluffy and vanquishes baby poop stains? Flip my pancakes!

Moz Pro isn’t just a tool for link building, or keyword research, or on-page SEO, or crawling your site. It does all those things and a little bit more, simplifying your SEO work and saving time. And if you’ve run into an SEO task you’re not sure how to tackle, it’s possible that a tool you need is right here just waiting to be found! It’s in this spirit that we’ve revived our SEO Quick Fix videos. These 2–3 minute Mozzer-led tutorials are meant to help you get the most out of our tools, and offer simple solutions to common SEO problems.

Take Moz Pro for a spin!

Today we’ll focus on a few Keyword Explorer and Site Crawl tips. I hope these knowledge nuggets bring you the joy I experienced the moment I realized my son doesn’t care whether I read him The Name of the Wind or Goodnight Moon.

Let’s dive in!

Fix #1 - Keyword Explorer: Finding keyword suggestions that are questions

Search queries all have intent (“when to give my baby water” was a hot Google search at my house recently). Here’s the good news: Research shows that if you’re already ranking in the top ten positions, providing the best answers to specific questions can earn you a coveted Featured Snippet!

In this video, April from our Customer Success Team will show you how to pull a list of keyword phrases that cover the who, what, where, when, why, and how of all the related topics for keywords you’re already ranking for. Here’s the rub. Different questions call for different Featured Snippet formats. For example, “how” and “have” questions tend to result in list-based snippets, while “which” questions often result in tables. When you’re crafting your content, be mindful of the type of question you’re targeting and format accordingly.

Looking for more resources? Once you’ve got your list, check out AJ Ghergich’s article on the Moz Blog for some in-depth insight on formatting and optimizing your snippets. High five!

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Fix #2 - Site Crawl: Optimize the content on your site

Sometimes if I find a really good pair of pants, I buy two (I mean, it’s really hard to find good pants). In this case duplicates are good, but the rules of pants don’t always apply to content. Chiaryn is here to teach you how to use Site Crawl to identify duplicate content and titles, and uncover opportunities to help customers and bots find more relevant content on your site.

When reviewing your duplicate content, keep a few things in mind:

• Does this page provide value to visitors?
• Title tags are meant to give searchers a taste of what your content is about, and meant to help bots understand and categorize your content. You want your title tags to be relevant and unique to your content.
• If pages with different content have the same title tag, re-write your tags to make them more relevant to your page content. Use our Title Tag Preview tool to help out.
• Thin content isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s still a good opportunity to make sure your page is performing as expected — and update it as necessary with meaningful content.
• Check out Jo Cameron’s post about How to Turn Low-Value Content Into Neatly Organized Opportunities for more snazzy tips on duplicate content and Site Crawl!

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Fix #3 - Keyword Explorer: Identify your competitors’ top keywords

Cozily nestled under a few clicks, Keyword Explorer holds the keys to a competitive research sweet spot. By isolating the ranking keywords you have in common with your competitors, you can pinpoint their weak spots and discover keywords that are low-hanging fruit — phrases you have the content and authority to rank for that, with a little attention, could do even better. In this video, Janisha shows you how targeting a competitor’s low-ranking keywords can earn you a top spot in the SERPS.

Check out all that overlapped opportunity!

For a few more tips along this line, check out Hayley Sherman’s post, How to Use Keyword Explorer to Identify Competitive Keyword Opportunities.

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Fix #4 - Site Crawl: Identify and fix redirect chains

Redirects are a handy way to get a visitor from a page they try to land on, to the page you want them to land on. Redirect chains, however, are redirects gone wrong. They look something like this: URL A redirects to URL B, URL B redirects to URL C… and so on and so forth.

These redirect chains can negatively impact your rankings, slow your site load times, and make it hard for crawlers to properly index your site.

Meghan from our Help team is here to show you how to find redirect chains, understand where they currently exist, and help you cut a few of those pesky middle redirects.

Looking for a few other redirect resources? I’ve got you covered:

• Moz's Learning Center: Redirection
• 301 Redirects – How to Redirect Your Website
• Search Console Help: Change page URLs with 301 redirects

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Alright friends, that’s a wrap! Like the end of The Last Jedi, you might not be ready for this post to be over. Fear not! Our blog editor liked my jokes so much that she's promised to harp on me to write more blog posts. So, I need your help! Find yourself facing an SEO snafu that doesn’t seem to have a straightforward fix? Let me know in the comments. I might know a Moz tool that can help, and you might inspire another Quick Fix post!

Get a free month of Moz Pro

If you’re still interested in checking out more solutions, here’s a list of some of my favorite resources:

• The SEO Learning Center: If you need a refresher on SEO basics or need to do a gut-check, the Learning Center has your back.
• Moz SEO Training: Whether you need to master your next skill or get your team ramped up on the basics, live training courses can help.
• Our Next Level blog series, focused on helping you solve SEO problems with Moz Pro. We cover lots of topics:
  • How to Target Multiple Keywords with One Page
  • I've Optimized My Site, But I'm Still Not Ranking—Help!
  • Geomodified Searches, Localized Results, and How to Track the Right Keywords and Locations for Your Business
  • Diving for Pearls: A Guide to Long-Tail Keywords
  • Presenting Your Findings: How to Create Relevant and Engaging SEO Reports

Stay cool!

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

With SEI’s help, high school students in Delta County install solar photovoltaic systems on their schools

Students at Paonia and Delta High Schools who are apart of Solar Energy Internationals High School Technical Training and Careers Pathways Program installed solar systems on their schools earlier this year.

Nine Paonia High School students worked during their class period for a week alongside Empowered Energy Systems LLC, who donated their time to the project, to install a 10kW ground mount solar system. The students learned about every step of the installation process from excavation and pouring concrete to setting the railing and wiring the solar panels. They can leverage the skills gained from this experience to pursue a career, or continuing education, in the solar industry or other technical trades. The system will output approximately 16,000 kWh/year of solar electricity and save the school approximately $1,500/year.

One of the participating students, Junior Harley Ewert, shared the value of his experience,

“Working on solar installation isn’t the typical education you think of having in high school, but it exemplified how important learning first hand can be. It is amazing how quickly a term or item can be remembered when it is tied back to a physical experience rather than a definition on a computer screen.”

At the same time, fourteen students at Delta High School worked with their science teacher Ben Graves to design and install a 5kW pole mount solar system as the first phase of construction in the DHS Solar Lab. This project was both designed and installed by students in Mr. Graves’ Solar Energy Training program, a class he designed through a partnership with SEI.

Solar Energy International organized the donations and installation of the Paonia 10 kW solar system. The Trina Solar solar panels and Sunny Boy inverters for the system were donated in collaboration with the Solar Foundation. While the funds for the rest of the system were local donations from community members, businesses, and utilities including DMEA, Basin Electric. Empowered Energy Systems LLC donated their time to install the ground mount and involve the students in a safe manner, and the AC electrical work was donated by Aubrey Harris from Electrical Service and Repair LLC. Teacher Ben Graves at Delta High School coordinated the funding for the Delta 5kW pole mount system. He was awarded a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Planet Stewards Grant for most of the major capital costs along with a Colorado Education Initiative STEM award. Delta County School District provided a large part of the technical labor and supplies along with technical consultation from Solar Energy International.

This year students learned technical skills during the installation, and over subsequent years students will have the opportunity to collect a variety of data from the system to accompany physics, math, or science curriculum in the schools. Not only will these solar systems be offsetting some energy costs for the schools, but they serve as an educational resource for years to come.

DHS students Sam Moore, Jocy Trevizo and Justin Hanning lay conduit for the Delta High School Solar Array

About Solar Energy International

Solar Energy International (SEI) was founded in 1991 as a nonprofit educational organization with the mission to provide industry-leading technical training and expertise in renewable energy to empower people, communities and businesses worldwide. SEI envisions a world powered by renewable energy.

***

For more information, contact Beata Ramza at beata@solarenergy.org or 970-527-7657 x213.

 

The post With SEI’s help, high school students in Delta County install solar photovoltaic systems on their schools appeared first on Solar Training - Solar Installer Training - Solar PV Installation Training - Solar Energy Courses - Renewable Energy Education - NABCEP - Solar Energy International (SEI).

New England Needs More Natural Gas Pipelines

New England has become heavily dependent on low cost natural gas, which accounts for about half of its power generation as the region has retired many of its coal and nuclear plants. However, because of a lack of pipeline infrastructure, New England has difficulty getting sufficient supplies of natural gas from nearby areas, such as the Marcellus Shale formation, especially during the winter months. This past winter, the region had to use dual-fuel power plants, consuming about 2 million barrels of oil during January’s deep freeze, which is over twice the oil consumed in 2016, according to the Independent System Operator for New England. Because the demand for natural gas is growing faster than the infrastructure to deliver it to the region is, electricity prices will need to increase. As it is, the six New England states have the highest regional electricity rates in the lower 48 states—53 percent above the national average. If the infrastructure constraints remain in place, electricity consumers can expect a good deal of price volatility during the winter months.

The Winter Cold Spell

Due to the lack of pipeline infrastructure for natural gas and the preference given to home heating, the generation mix on the grid shifted heavily to oil. On December 24, 2017, oil supplied just 2 percent of the region’s electricity. On January 6, 2018, oil provided 36 percent of the electricity.

As the graph below shows, during the cold spell, natural gas prices in Massachusetts were vastly higher than the Marcellus Shale prices, which remained fairly steady.  Natural gas prices delivered to electric utilities rose about 30 fold (from around $3 per thousand cubic feet to around $90).

Source: Yes Vermont Yankee

Electricity prices followed the trajectory of natural gas prices, but the impact was less severe since generators that could switch to oil did switch when oil became less expensive than natural gas. Due to power plants using the lower-priced oil, electricity prices increased from around $50 per megawatt hour to around $450 per megawatt hour—a nine-fold increase.

Source: Yes Vermont Yankee

However, the region was burning oil far faster than it was replenishing it.  On December 1, the region had 68 percent of the maximum oil available to power plants.   On January 8, the region had just 19 percent. (See graph below.)

Source: Yes Vermont Yankee

NIMBYism (Not-In-My-Backyard) in New England

In New England, it is very difficult to build energy infrastructure. Major proposed natural gas pipelines have been shelved, including Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct and Spectra’s Access Northeast, due to financial and political challenges. Further, New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee rejected the Northern Pass power line project in February, which would import low cost hydroelectric power from Quebec to New England.

All New England states have renewable portfolio standards, requiring utilities to obtain an increasing amount of electricity from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. Massachusetts, the region’s most populous state, has a 40 percent mandate for renewable energy by 2030. Yet, policymakers in the region have blocked projects that could help meet those targets, such as the Northern Pass power line noted above. Massachusetts wanted to use hydroelectric power from Northern Pass to help meet its renewable portfolio standard.

One Approach to Pipeline Constraints: Supersizing

The concept of supersizing pipelines is beginning to take hold in the United States and Canada to address infrastructure constraints. A larger pipeline along the same route as an older smaller one is cheaper to build than several new small pipelines. Plus, permits and rights-of-way of the old pipeline can be used without obtaining additional new pipeline routes. Increasing the diameter of a pipe increases the flow of natural gas. For example, Enbridge replaced a 26-inch-diameter shale gas line running from Pennsylvania into New England with a 42-inch diameter pipeline. While it is only 1.6 times in diameter larger, the new pipeline can carry many times as much natural gas as the older one. Further, the newer pipe has more flexibility—flows can be reversed, expanded, or optimized.

Conclusion

Clearly, the above figures during this past winter show that New England is on the edge of reliability problems. Because of good operations and probably some luck, the region managed to get through this winter’s cold snap, but it needs a better long-term strategy. The region is placing that strategy into the hands of renewable energy, but renewables did not save the day during this cold spell. The politicians and consumers in New England need to assess whether they want reliable energy or risk overreliance on the intermittency of the wind and sun.

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