It’s exciting to announce the January issue of GeoOutlook! After a hiatus of nearly four years, the September issue of GeoOutlook was an opportunity to restart this great resource. In 2024, we plan to have this issue, as well as a July issue. We are taking “baby steps” at first, starting out with two issues per year, building back up to a quarterly magazine, as we are able to collect interesting articles and enough ad revenue to pay for the costs associated with publishing a regular magazine.

You may not be aware of our agreement with BNP Media, publisher of ACHR News, Engineered Systems, and more. Our agreement for an E-Magazine includes distribution to subscribers of the two magazines mentioned above, which provides a much wider audience to readers in the HVACR and Engineering fields. The combination of the IGSHPA database and BNP readers provides nearly 50,000 readers! We expect a big “bang for the buck” for our advertisers and great exposure for authors of articles in GeoOutlook.

In 2024, you will see a lot more updates from IGSHPA, not only in GeoOutlook but we will be providing more content in our social media posts, a new twice monthly blog on the IGSHPA website, and much more. As the industry grows, the need for frequent communication, as well as details on new training programs will be essential for keeping members abreast of the latest industry developments. Watch your Inboxes and social media pages for the latest IGSHPA news!

This year at the Iowa Geothermal Association conference, February 26-28, 2024, in Cedar Rapids, IA, we will be teaching for the first time two new IGSHPA training modules, the Installation Technician module, and the Service Technician module. We expect these two modules to be very popular with HVAC contractors interested in geothermal heat pump technology. As we continue to “modularize” the training, you will start to see new modules that were previously part of the Accredited Installer (AI) training, become available as separate training courses, which will help with workforce development for our industry as we grow. Other new modules in the works are the residential design course, a grouting module, several GHEX (Ground Heat Exchanger) related modules, and much more. Greg Kurtz, IGSHPA’s technical director, or I will be providing updates as we have more details. I would like to thank IGSHPA’s training committee for all the hard work on transforming our curriculum.

There is so much happening at IGSHPA that I quickly ran out of space on a one-page letter. So, I will leave it here for now. Watch your Inbox for details on the next annual conference, 2024 IGSHPA membership levels, and all the new developments with IGSHPA and the industry. Thanks for reading and thank you so much for your support of IGSHPA!

Best Regards,
Jeff Hammond