Solar or HVAC: How to Choose the Right Trade

You’ve decided to explore clean energy training. Now you’re looking at two options, solar installation and HVAC, and wondering which one makes more sense for you.

Both pay well. Both are in demand. Both are available through free CEJA training in Southern Illinois. So the question isn’t which career is “better.” It’s which one fits the way you like to work.

This article gives you a direct comparison so you can make that call.

How the Two Careers Compare

A note on the numbers: Solar’s 42% growth rate is eye-catching, but HVAC’s story is about shortage, not just growth. The industry estimates roughly 110,000 unfilled HVAC positions nationwide, with about 25,000 technicians leaving the field each year, many to retirement. Employers are competing for workers right now.

Both fields are hiring. Solar hiring is driven by new projects coming online. HVAC hiring is driven by both new work and a wave of retirements that isn’t slowing down.

The Work: What Each Job Actually Looks Like

Solar Installation

Solar installers assemble, install, and maintain photovoltaic systems, the panels that convert sunlight into electricity.

Most of the work is physical installation. You’ll secure mounting hardware to rooftops or ground structures, lift panels into place, bolt them down, and handle the wiring. You’ll use drills, conduit benders, multimeters, and hand tools daily. The electrical connections are the most technical part of the job: linking panels to inverters and tying the system into a building’s electrical panel.

You’ll work as part of a crew. Panels are awkward to handle alone, and speed matters. A residential rooftop might take a crew a day or two. Commercial projects take longer.

A typical day starts early with a team meeting and safety check. You load equipment, travel to the job site, and spend the day on installation. Weather is a factor. Rain usually shuts things down. But when conditions are good, the work is consistent and predictable. At the end of the day, you can see what you built.

HVAC

HVAC technicians install, maintain, and repair heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.

One day you’re installing a new furnace. The next you’re diagnosing why a commercial rooftop unit isn’t cooling properly. The day after that you’re doing seasonal maintenance on a residential system or responding to an emergency call.

Diagnostics are a major part of the job. When a system fails, you figure out why. You’ll use digital manifolds, thermal imaging cameras, and diagnostic software to identify refrigerant leaks, electrical failures, and airflow problems. Every broken system is a puzzle to solve.

You’ll spend time in customer homes, explaining options and answering questions. Communication matters. You’re often the face of the company. You typically work solo or in pairs rather than on larger crews.

Emergency calls are part of the job, especially early in your career. When someone’s heat dies in January or their AC fails during a heat wave, they need help now.

What’s Hard: Physical Demands and Learning Curve

Both jobs are physical. Both have real risks. But the challenges differ.

Solar

The physical reality: Heights are constant. You’ll work on rooftops, climb ladders multiple times per day, and sometimes use lifts. You’ll carry equipment weighing 50 to 60 pounds up those ladders. You’ll be on your feet for hours in heat or cold.

The risks: The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that solar installers face falls from ladders and roofs, electrical shocks, and burns from hot equipment and materials. Proper safety equipment is required on every job: harnesses, gloves, hard hats.

The learning curve: The installation process is systematic, so you’ll learn the sequence relatively quickly. The challenge in your first months is speed and efficiency. Experienced crews move fast, and new installers often feel like they’re slowing everyone down. You’ll also need to develop precision with electrical connections. Mistakes mean failed inspections or systems that don’t work. Most new installers spend their early weeks carrying materials, setting up racking, and watching experienced installers handle the technical work before taking on more responsibility.

What trips people up: Underestimating the physical toll. The first few weeks of climbing ladders and hauling equipment will exhaust muscles you didn’t know you had. This gets easier as your body adapts, but the initial adjustment is real.

HVAC

The physical reality: You’ll work in tight, awkward spaces. Attics that hit 130 degrees in summer. Crawl spaces. Basements. Spots behind equipment where you’re crouching or reaching at odd angles. You’ll lift heavy equipment, climb ladders, and spend hours in uncomfortable positions.

The risks: The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that HVAC technicians have one of the highest rates of injuries and illnesses of all occupations. The most common issues are muscle strains from lifting, electrical shocks, burns from hot equipment or refrigerants, and cuts. Refrigerants require careful handling. Contact can cause skin damage, frostbite, or blindness.

The learning curve: Diagnostics are where new technicians struggle most. You’ll encounter systems you’ve never seen, problems that don’t match textbook descriptions, and situations where you simply don’t know what’s wrong. This is frustrating. Experienced techs have years of pattern recognition that you don’t have yet. The first year involves a lot of feeling stumped, asking for help, and slowly building your mental library of “I’ve seen this before.”

What trips people up: Expecting to feel competent quickly. HVAC systems are complex, and the diagnostic side takes time to develop. If you need to feel like an expert right away, this will be a hard adjustment.

Which Fits Your Personality?

Solar installation tends to suit people who prefer outdoor work and thrive in team environments. If you like knowing what your day will look like, if you’d rather have a consistent routine than constant surprises, solar offers that. The work is physical and repetitive in a satisfying way. You develop skill through doing the same tasks better and faster. The satisfaction comes from standing back at the end of the day and seeing a completed installation that will generate electricity for decades.

HVAC tends to suit people who enjoy problem-solving and can handle unpredictability. If you’re the kind of person who likes figuring out why something isn’t working, if a puzzle frustrates you in a good way, HVAC offers that. The work requires more customer interaction, so you need to be comfortable explaining technical things to people who aren’t technical. You’ll work more independently, which means more autonomy but also more responsibility when something goes wrong.

Neither profile is better. They’re different, and you probably recognize yourself more in one than the other.

Where the Jobs Are: National and Local

Solar in Southern Illinois

At the begining of 2026, Southern Illinois has 89.4 megawatts of planned solar projects in the pipeline, which translates to roughly 188 projected jobs from projects already in development. Perry, Jefferson, and Jackson counties lead the region in planned capacity.

Coal-to-solar conversions are underway or planned at Baldwin, Coffeen, Newton, and the retired Joppa plant. These are places many Southern Illinois residents know well.

The clean energy workforce in Illinois is growing nearly five times faster than the state economy, and employers report difficulty finding enough qualified workers.

HVAC in Southern Illinois

We don’t have a specific projection for HVAC openings in Southern Illinois the way we do for solar. But the regional demand mirrors national trends: an aging workforce, steady retirement, and employers actively competing for qualified technicians.

According to the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA), the average HVAC technician is in their mid-50s. The pipeline of new workers isn’t keeping pace with retirements. This shortage is why wages are rising and why employers are increasingly willing to train people from scratch.

The HVAC work itself isn’t going anywhere. Every building needs climate control. Every system eventually needs maintenance or replacement. The question isn’t whether jobs exist. It’s whether there are enough trained people to fill them.

Income: Starting Pay and What Comes Next

Both careers start around $39,000 for entry-level positions. The difference shows up as you gain experience.

HVAC Pay Progression

HVAC has a more established pay ladder with clearer milestones:

Overtime is a big factor. During peak seasons (summer for AC, winter for heating), there’s more work than technicians to do it. Emergency calls often pay premiums. Many HVAC techs earn quite a bit more than their base salary through overtime, especially in their first several years when they’re building a customer base or proving themselves to employers.

Specialization also affects pay. Commercial and industrial work pays more than residential. Data center cooling is a premium niche. Technicians trained in newer technologies, like heat pumps, A2L refrigerants, and smart building systems, are more valuable than those who aren’t.

Solar Pay Progression

Solar wages are rising, but the career ladder is still being defined as the industry matures:

There’s less overtime variability in solar compared to HVAC. The work is more project-based, with steadier but less variable hours. When a project is active, you work. When it’s not, you may have gaps, though in a growing market those gaps are shrinking.

Because the residential solar industry is younger, there’s less historical data on how pay grows over a full career. The upside is that the industry is growing fast, which tends to lift wages as employers compete for workers.

Bottom line: If maximizing income quickly is a priority, HVAC likely offers a faster path to higher wages, especially with overtime. If you’re betting on an industry with explosive growth, solar has real potential, but the pay ladder is less defined.

Career Paths: One Big Difference

Both careers offer advancement. You can move from installer to crew lead to project manager in either field. Both can lead to business ownership.

But there’s a meaningful difference: HVAC has a more established path to running your own business. Many HVAC technicians eventually start their own companies. The model is proven, the customer base is steady (everyone needs heating and cooling), and the work doesn’t depend on project pipelines the way solar does.

Solar career paths are still emerging. Business ownership is possible but less common currently. More often, solar installers move into project management, system design, or technical sales. Some make lateral moves into adjacent fields like battery storage and EV charger installation.

If owning your own business is a long-term goal, HVAC has a clearer roadmap. If you’re more interested in being part of a growing industry and seeing where it goes, solar offers that.

Common Concerns

“Am I too old for this?”

Both fields have workers across age ranges. The physical demands are real, but manageable if you’re in reasonable health. Many career changers enter trades in their 30s, 40s, and beyond. The CEJA program doesn’t have age restrictions.

The honest answer: your body will tell you. If you’re in reasonable shape and willing to work through the initial adjustment period, age isn’t a barrier. If you have physical limitations, that’s worth considering honestly, but it’s worth considering at any age.

“What if I can’t keep up physically?”

Stamina builds with the work. Everyone struggles in the first few weeks. Your body adapts.

If you have specific physical limitations (bad knees, back problems, inability to work at heights), be honest about whether those are manageable or disqualifying. Some limitations can be worked around; others can’t.

“What if I pick wrong?”

Skills transfer between the two fields more than you might think. Both involve electrical work, physical installation, and reading technical plans. Someone who starts in solar and later wants to try HVAC, or the other way around, isn’t starting from zero.

The training gives you credentials and a foundation. Where you go from there is up to you. Plenty of people discover what they actually like (or don’t) once they’re doing the work, and adjust from there.

A Decision Framework

If you’ve read this far and still aren’t sure, work through these questions:

1. Do you prefer being outside all day, or do you want variety in your environment?

• Outside all day → Solar
• Variety (even if it means attics and crawl spaces) → HVAC

2. Do you work better on a crew with clear roles, or do you prefer figuring things out on your own?

• Crew-based → Solar
• Independent → HVAC

3. Do you like knowing what your day will look like, or do you prefer unpredictability?

• Predictability → Solar
• Unpredictability → HVAC

4. Are you comfortable in customer-facing situations: being in someone’s home, explaining technical things, managing expectations?

• Prefer minimal customer interaction → Solar
• Comfortable with customers → HVAC

5. Which is more tolerable: heights with safety equipment, or tight and awkward spaces?

• Heights → Solar
• Tight spaces → HVAC

6. Are you okay with occasional evening or weekend emergency calls, especially early in your career?

• Prefer predictable hours → Solar
• Okay with on-call work → HVAC

7. Is owning your own business a long-term goal?

• Yes → HVAC has a more established path
• Not a priority → Either works

If your answers lean one direction, trust that. If they’re mixed, pick the one that feels more right. You can adjust later. This isn’t a permanent decision.

How to Get Started

Both training tracks are available through Man-Tra-Con’s CEJA Workforce Hub in Southern Illinois.

The program includes:

• 12 to 16 weeks of training, classes meeting about 4 hours daily
• All certifications included (OSHA 10, First Aid/CPR; EPA 608 for HVAC)
• No tuition, no cost for materials
• Paid stipends during training
• Support for transportation, childcare, and emergency expenses
• Job placement assistance after completion

You don’t need prior experience. The program takes you from where you are to job-ready.

Ready to take the next step?

• Learn more about the CEJA program
• Call 618-428-4460
• Visit 401 S. Illinois Avenue, Carbondale