About VR Smoke School

Built by the people who helped create virtual smoke school

VR Smoke School was founded by two visible emissions professionals with more than 45 years of combined experience providing EPA Method 9 certification and performing visible emissions observations.

Our founders were directly involved in developing the concept of a virtual smoke school and worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop and author ALT-152, the alternative method that established the requirements for earning EPA Method 9 certification using virtual reality.

VR Smoke School brings that experience directly to every person and organization that uses our program.

Industrial facility representing visible emissions compliance work

Experience that reaches beyond certification

Decades of field work, training, testing, equipment design and visible emissions compliance.

Students attending an in-person smoke school

How virtual certification began

From Traditional Smoke School to ALT-152

Our experience with smoke school began long before virtual reality.

For decades, we provided EPA Method 9 training and certification and performed visible emissions observations in the field. That experience gave us an understanding not only of the regulatory requirements of Method 9, but also of the practical challenges associated with traditional smoke school - including travel, scheduling, weather and inconsistent testing conditions.

We believed there was a better way to earn EPA Method 9 certification.

Our team developed the concept of using virtual reality to provide a standardized environment for Method 9 certification and worked with the U.S. EPA to establish the technical and procedural requirements that became ALT-152.

Today, ALT-152 provides an EPA-approved alternative to traditional in-person smoke school. VR Smoke School is an EPA-approved ALT-152 provider and our program allows you to earn Method 9 certification virtually at anytime, from anywhere. No scheduling, no weather issues, no travel. Just consistent EPA Method 9 training and certification on demand at a lower cost than in-person smoke school.

See ALT-152 in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

Practical field knowledge

Decades of Visible Emissions Experience

Our founders have more than 45 years of experience working with visible emissions. That experience includes providing smoke school training and certification and performing visible emissions observations in the field on sources ranging from crushers at aggregate operations to smoke stacks for power generation facilities.

This means we understand what happens after certification. We understand the questions observers encounter in the field, the importance of proper observation procedures and documentation, and the challenges environmental professionals face when maintaining Method 9 compliance.

That practical experience influences how our training is written, how our certification program operates and how we support our clients.

Environmental professionals working in the field

The people behind the method

Meet the Founders

Gabriel Keilholz

Co-Founder | EPA ALT-152 Co-Author

Gabriel Keilholz is a co-founder of VR Smoke School and was directly involved in the development and authorship of EPA Alternative Method ALT-152. His experience includes EPA Method 9 training, visible emissions observations, smoke school operations and the development of new methods and technologies to assist with opacity observations. He created the industry’s first digital smoke school lecture, the first interactive online lecture, the fire-less smoke generator, the virtual reality method and a patent-pending technology to measure opacity. He oversaw the operation of approximately 5000 in-person smoke school events and the issuance of over 100,000 EPA Method 9 certifications.

Mr. Keilholz developed the concept for using virtual reality headsets for smoke school training and wrote the technical specifications for ALT-152 based on personal interest and research related to virtual reality headsets, cinema cameras and optical physics. Additionally, he designed and led the study that proved virtual reality could train students to observe opacity with equivalent or better accuracy than students trained at in-person smoke school events.

Joshua Haslag

Co-Founder | EPA ALT-152 Co-Author

Joshua Haslag is a co-founder of VR Smoke School and was directly involved with the development of ALT-152. His experience includes EPA Method 9 training, conducting visible emissions observations and designing smoke generation equipment. He ran or oversaw the operation of thousands of in-person smoke schools.

Mr. Haslag has recently designed advance smoke generation equipment that allows the VR Smoke School program to display very stable and accurate smoke plumes. The new smoke generator uses small particle fuels to ensure the opacity of the smoke being observed by the human eye matches the opacity being recorded (the value a student is graded against) regardless of light conditions. This translates to much better training compared to previous smoke generator designs. Because of this technology, students trained with the VR Smoke School program were able to observe over 8000 in-person smoke plumes with 55% more accuracy (white smoke) and 25% more accuracy (black smoke) than students trained at in-person smoke school. Our EPA-published study shows how effective our program is.

Technical support setup for smoke school and visible emissions questions

Expert help when you need it

Support Directly From Our Founders

Our founders personally respond to all technical inquiries. That support extends beyond technical questions about our program or the certification process.

If you have a question related to EPA Method 9 certification or performing visible emissions observations, you can ask us. We don’t just provide the training and certification test, we make our experience available to the people using our program.

Whether you're an individual observer or responsible for Method 9 compliance across an entire organization, you'll have direct access to people who have spent decades working with smoke school and visible emissions.

Built in the Midwest. Available anywhere.

Midwest Roots. International Support.

VR Smoke School is based in the Midwest, but the program was designed to serve observers and organizations throughout the United States and the world (visible emissions observations are required in a lot more places than just the U.S.). Our quick response times ensure everyone receives timely responses regardless of their location.

VR Smoke School support network extending from the Midwest to locations around the world

Have a Question?

Whether you have a question about VR Smoke School, ALT-152, EPA Method 9 certification, EPA Method 22 or visible emissions observations, we'd be happy to help.

Contact VR Smoke School