Asheville man goes back to school, starts solar company

ASHEVILLE – When Randy White started taking classes at UNC Asheville in 2010, he knew he was not like the other students.

While his classmates were still figuring out their majors, the 50-year-old was plowing through atmospheric science classes so that he could open a business in the solar industry as quickly as possible.

Now, three years after getting his college degree, that day has finally arrived for the 55-year-old.

"Since I graduated, this is all I've been working on," White said, as he stood next to his thermal solar system, which can heat large amounts of water with the power of the sun. "I knew that we could make a better product than anything out there, and I honestly believe that's what we've done."

Like the solar panels that can be seen on rooftops, a solar thermal system needs sunlight to function. The difference between the technologies lies in what kind of energy the systems generate once the sun starts to shine. Solar thermal systems convert sunlight into heat, rather than electricity.

The concept, though, was not new for White and his brother, Tom White, when the pair co-founded Whitestar Energy in 2013.

Their father, George T. White, was a chemist and held many patents during his lifetime, including one for a solar thermal system. White said he and his brother would help their father set up the systems as part of the business, Whiteline Inc.

"(Whiteline) was in business for 10 or 12 years, but the one thing we never had was we never had a tracking system," White said. "I wanted to improve on the collectors, and make a lot of changes to them."

A collector captures solar radiation, similar to the way a car will trap heat on a hot summer day. Instead of making a steering wheel too hot to the touch, the solar radiation in these systems is then used to warm up a water supply.

But the collectors that appear on a Whitestar Energy thermal solar system do not just absorb the sun, they move with it.

"They all move at once like venetian blinds," White said.

A computerized tracking device is responsible for this.

The device runs on a 12-volt battery, which is charged by a small photovoltaic, or PV, cell. White said the tracking unit actuator only runs for about two minutes each day, and helps keep the collectors perpendicular to the sun all day and, consequently, focused on their bright target in the sky from morning till night.

"At 8 a.m., it wakes up, so to speak, and starts looking for the sun again; and it will track it from east to west all day. Then, it will return back home at 6 o'clock," he said.

Though the idea of a tracker had been discussed, it wasn't until White reconnected with an old friend that it became a possibility.

Doug Howell, who owns a computer repair business in Asheville, built the tracking system and wrote the software for the tracking device used on the thermal solar system. The idea, though, he said all came from White.

"He cornered me on it, handed me a bucket of parts and said 'Let's do this thing,'" Howell said. "He had the ideas already in the place, but just getting it implemented took us quite a while and a lot of burning the midnight oil."

But challenges were just part of the experience for White.

In June 2009, he lost his job as a maintenance mechanic at Wilsonart manufacturing plant. Instead of giving up, White found hope in his dream of building a solar business.

"I had always kept it in the back of my head, but it was getting to the point of being able to do it and finding the time and energy and expertise," he said.

With the encouragement of his wife, Sheila McKeon, White decided to go back to college. Though he had started studying physics at Appalachian State University in the early '80s, the journey from student to small business owner has been an arduous one.

Before he could enroll at UNCA, White had to take a few classes at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

"I needed to get myself back in that mode of being in school again and get my general requirements taken care of," he said. "Plus, there was the fact that I had taken through like Calculus II back in the day and it transferred, but I had to take Calculus III. There was no way I could pass three, when I didn't remember two. I started over in math and went all the way through it."

By taking an 18-hour course load every semester at UNCA, White was able to graduate with a bachelor's degree in atmospheric science in two years.

His academic adviser, atmospheric science professor Christopher Godfrey, said he remembers White well. One thing that stood out to Godfrey about White was what he taught other students just by being himself and sharing his love of learning.

"It's good for our students to see people come back from life experience and go back to school with a singular purpose. So many of our students come here from high school just because their parents told them to go to college. There's not much drive, in some cases, and they don't know what they're going to do with their degrees," Godfrey said. "What's wonderful about nontraditional students like White is they very often know where they're going and exactly what they want to get out of college."

Though Godfrey was never told specifics about what White wanted to accomplish, Godfrey said it was clear that his student had big plans for the future.

"I remember one time he excitedly came into my office after we had been discussing solar radiation in class. I photocopied my notes for him so he could have it straight from the source. He told me he was working on something with his brother about it," Godfrey said. "I'm really glad to see that he took the idea and ran with it, and it looks like he's successful."

Having an idea, White discovered, was only the beginning.

"Just going to an investor with a business plan and an idea and getting them to believe in you is harder than a lot of people know," he said.

Eventually, Thomas L. White, an investor with no relation to White, saw value in what the Asheville resident wanted to achieve.

Though the company has been incorporated since 2013, White said the company's real turning point came in September when the solar thermal system was accredited by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation, making it eligible for tax credits.

"It's the difference between being able to sell and market them and not. You have to have that done," White said.

Each collector can be sold for about $800 each, White said. The local company, however, will be going after commercial operations that use large quantities of water, like breweries, hotels, medical facilities, food processing facilities, restaurants, schools and laundries.

For White, though, this project is about more than making money.

"I'd rather be the generation that started solving things instead of just continuing on our same old path. At some point we're going to have to change. It might not be for us, but it would be for our grandkids," he said. "A lot of these places are putting PV on their buildings, which at best might be about 25 percent of their energy use. When in reality, 75 percent of it is used for heating hot water."

Going forward, the company would like to produce and install the system at commercial locations locally and across the lower 48 states.

As White watched as eight of his conductors pivoted toward the sun, he said he believes the future is bright for Whitestar Energy.

"I want this to be our legacy. We've made this from scratch and we're proud of it," he said. "We're ready to get it out there to show people."