Small Wind Energy Systems Seminar
DISCLAIMER
Before purchasing, review the rules of your licensing or certifying entity. It is your responsibility to confirm this course meets your CE requirements. See the credit tab on the course page for details.
What’s Included: Full webinar recording, written course materials, expert instruction, a mandatory quiz, and a certificate upon completion.
Deliverability Timeline: All courses are generally available within 1-2 weeks after the live presentation.
CE Credits: AIA and/or LA/CES accreditation is available by request for courses recorded prior to March 11, 2026. All courses after that date include those accreditations by default, if applicable. With these accreditations, our courses qualify for credit in nearly all states for engineers, surveyors, architects, and landscape architects.
Learn more about the on-demand format in our FAQ or contact us at (715) 835-5900 or customerservice@halfmoonseminars.org
Agenda
Registration: 8:00 – 8:30 am
Morning Session: 8:30 am – 12:00 pm
Lunch (On your own): 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Afternoon Session: 1:00 – 4:30 pm
Understanding Wind
Introductions, goals, and format
Understanding electricity
Key terms – AC, DC, current, amps, voltage, watts, watt-hours, & kilowatt-hours
Small wind vs. large wind
Do wind turbines kill birds?
What is wind?
Types of wind
How is wind generated?
Turbulence, friction, and ground drag
Intro to the power equation: P = 1/2d x A x V3
Wind Turbines and Wind Systems
Terminology: windmills, wind turbines, and wind generators
Types of small wind turbines – horizontal and vertical axis turbines
Classifying wind turbines – grid-tie and battery-charging, upwind and downwind
Anatomy of a small wind turbine
Types of wind systems: grid-tied, off-grid, grid-tied with battery backup
Grid-connected wind systems
Net metering policies
Grid-connected with battery backup
Charge controllers
Battery-based inverters
Wind Systems and Site Assessment
Grid-connected with battery backup
Off-grid systems
Understanding batteries
Back-up generators
Hybrid systems wind and solar systems
Wind site assessment, load analysis, and efficiency
More on Wind Turbines and Wind Towers
Governing systems
Shut down mechanisms
More on Vertical Axis Wind Turbines
Tower options – freestanding, guyed towers, and tilt-up towers
Economics of small wind systems, including incentives
Credits
Professional Engineers
6.5 PDHs
Architects
6.5 HSW Contact Hours
6.5 AIA HSW Learning Units
Contractors
Non-Credit Continuing Ed.
Continuing Education Credit Information
This seminar is open to the public and offers 6.5 PDHs to professional engineers and 6.5 HSW contact hours to architects in all states. HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education provider for Indiana engineers.
The American Institute of Architects has approved this course for 6.5 HSW Learning Units (Sponsor No. J885). Only full attendance can be reported to the AIA.
HalfMoon Education is deemed an approved architect continuing education sponsor in New York. HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00000700), New York (NYSED Sponsor No. 35), North Carolina, and North Dakota.
This seminar offers a non-credit continuing education opportunity to construction contracts. It has not been approved by any contractor licensing board for continuing education credit.
Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.
Speakers
Dan Chiras
The Evergreen InstituteThe Evergreen Institute in Gerald, MissouriDr. Chiras is director and lead instructor at The Evergreen Institute in east-central Missouri (www.evergreeninstitute.org) where he teaches workshops on solar electricity, small wind energy systems, passive solar, solar thermal systems, energy efficiency, green building, and net zero energy building. He is president of Sustainable Systems Design that consults on residential renewable energy and green building and installs residential solar and wind systems. Dr. Chiras has published hundreds of articles and 36 books on residential renewable energy and related topics including Power from the Wind, Wind Energy Basics, The Homeowner’s Guide to Renewable Energy, and Power from the Sun. He has installed several dozen small wind and solar electric systems.