diff --git a/bifacial_radiance/main.py b/bifacial_radiance/main.py
index aceae78b..21825600 100644
--- a/bifacial_radiance/main.py
+++ b/bifacial_radiance/main.py
@@ -167,7 +167,8 @@ def _modDict(originaldict, moddict, relative=False):
     
     return newdict
 
-def _heightCasesSwitcher(sceneDict, preferred='hub_height', nonpreferred='clearance_height'):
+def _heightCasesSwitcher(sceneDict, preferred='hub_height', nonpreferred='clearance_height',
+                         suppress_warning=False):
         """
         
         Parameters
@@ -183,7 +184,9 @@ def _heightCasesSwitcher(sceneDict, preferred='hub_height', nonpreferred='cleara
         nonpreferred : TYPE, optional
             When sceneDict has hub_height and clearance_height, 
             it wil ldelete this nonpreferred option. The default is 'clearance_height'.
-    
+        suppress_warning  :  Bool, default False
+            If both heights passed in SceneDict, suppress the warning        
+        
         Returns
         -------
         sceneDict : TYPE
@@ -238,9 +241,10 @@ def _heightCasesSwitcher(sceneDict, preferred='hub_height', nonpreferred='cleara
             del sceneDict[nonpreferred]
         
         elif heightCases == '_clearance_height__hub_height__':  
-            print("sceneDict Warning: 'hub_height' and 'clearance_height'"+
-                  " are being passed. Using "+preferred+
-                  " and removing "+ nonpreferred)
+            if not suppress_warning:
+                print("sceneDict Warning: 'hub_height' and 'clearance_height'"+
+                      " are being passed. Using "+preferred+
+                      " and removing "+ nonpreferred)
             del sceneDict[nonpreferred]
     
         else: 
@@ -301,7 +305,24 @@ def _subhourlydatatoGencumskyformat(gencumskydata, label='right'):
     if (gencumskydata.index.year[-1] == gencumskydata.index.year[-2]+1) and len(gencumskydata)>8760:
         gencumskydata = gencumskydata[:-1]
     return gencumskydata
-    # end _subhourlydatatoGencumskyformat        
+    # end _subhourlydatatoGencumskyformat   
+
+def _checkRaypath():
+    # Ensure that os.environ['RAYPATH'] exists and contains current directory '.'     
+    if os.name == 'nt':
+        splitter = ';'
+    else:
+        splitter = ':'
+    try:
+        raypath = os.getenv('RAYPATH', default=None)
+        if not raypath:
+            raise KeyError()
+        raysplit = raypath.split(splitter)
+        if not '.' in raysplit:
+            os.environ['RAYPATH'] = splitter.join(filter(None, raysplit + ['.'+splitter]))
+    except (KeyError, AttributeError, TypeError):
+        raise Exception('No RAYPATH set for RADIANCE.  Please check your RADIANCE installation.')
+        
     
 
 class RadianceObj:
@@ -362,6 +383,7 @@ def __init__(self, name=None, path=None, hpc=False):
         
         now = datetime.datetime.now()
         self.nowstr = str(now.date())+'_'+str(now.hour)+str(now.minute)+str(now.second)
+        _checkRaypath()       # make sure we have RADIANCE path set up correctly
 
         # DEFAULTS
 
@@ -4879,7 +4901,8 @@ def _checkSensors(sensors):
 
         sceneDict, use_clearanceheight  = _heightCasesSwitcher(sceneDict, 
                                                                preferred = 'hub_height',
-                                                               nonpreferred = 'clearance_height')
+                                                               nonpreferred = 'clearance_height',
+                                                               suppress_warning=True)
         
         if use_clearanceheight :
             height = sceneDict['clearance_height'] + 0.5* \
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py b/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
index 62a26e72..b56c5f29 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/conf.py
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@ def __getattr__(cls, name):
 MOCK_MODULES = []
 sys.modules.update((mod_name, Mock()) for mod_name in MOCK_MODULES)
 """
-# import distutils before calling pd.show_versions()
+# import distutils before calling pd.show_versions(). not needed for pd >= 1.4.x
 # https://github.com/pypa/setuptools/issues/3044
-import distutils  # noqa: F401
+#import distutils  # noqa: F401
 
 import pandas as pd
 pd.show_versions()
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.4.4.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.4.4.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5cbce1df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.4.4.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+.. _whatsnew_0440:
+
+v0.4.4 (XX / XX / 2024)
+------------------------
+Bugfix Release  ...
+
+
+API Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* 
+
+Enhancements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* Conduct an automated check for proper radiance RAYPATH setting (:issue:`525`)(:pull:`537`)
+
+
+Bug fixes
+~~~~~~~~~
+* versioning with setuptools_scm- set fallback_version to bifirad v0.4.3 to prevent crashes if git is not present (:issue:`535`)(:pull:`539`)
+
+Documentation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* No longer provide a warning message when both `hub_height` and `clearance_height` are passed to :py:class:`~bifacial_radiance.AnalysisObj.moduleAnalysis`  (:pull:`540`)
+
+Contributors
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* Silvana Ayala (:ghuser:`shirubana`)
+* Chris Deline (:ghuser:`cdeline`)
+
diff --git a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/pending.rst b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.5.0.rst
similarity index 85%
rename from docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/pending.rst
rename to docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.5.0.rst
index b1c705fd..945a49c8 100644
--- a/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/pending.rst
+++ b/docs/sphinx/source/whatsnew/v0.5.0.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,31 @@
+.. _whatsnew_0440:
+
+v0.4.4 (XX / XX / 2024)
+------------------------
+Bugfix Release  ...
+
+
+API Changes
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* 
+
+Enhancements
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* Conduct an automated check for proper radiance RAYPATH setting (:issue:`525`)(:pull:`537`)
+
+
+Bug fixes
+~~~~~~~~~
+* versioning with setuptools_scm- set fallback_version to bifirad v0.4.3 to prevent crashes if git is not present (:issue:`535`)(:pull:`539`)
+
+Documentation
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* No longer provide a warning message when both `hub_height` and `clearance_height` are passed to :py:class:`~bifacial_radiance.AnalysisObj.moduleAnalysis`  (:pull:`540`)
+
+Contributors
+~~~~~~~~~~~~
+* Silvana Ayala (:ghuser:`shirubana`)
+* Chris Deline (:ghuser:`cdeline`)
 .. _whatsnew_050:
 
 v0.5.0 (4 / XX / 2024)
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 7708d612..270c707e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,8 +7,9 @@ ipython==8.13.0
 kiwisolver==1.4.4
 matplotlib==3.5.1
 more-itertools==9.1.0
+numba==0.58.1
 numpy==1.24.2
-pandas==1.3.5
+pandas==1.4.4
 pluggy==1.0.0
 pvlib==0.9.4
 pvmismatch==4.1
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b04e96c6..dc0bdacb 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
     # the version across setup.py and the project code, see
     # https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/single_source_version.html
     #version='0.4.4',
-    use_scm_version=True,
+    use_scm_version={"fallback_version":"0.4.3"},
     description='Tools to interface with Radiance for the PV researcher',
     long_description=long_description,
     long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
diff --git a/tests/test_bifacial_radiance.py b/tests/test_bifacial_radiance.py
index 0fb0420d..f6783d87 100644
--- a/tests/test_bifacial_radiance.py
+++ b/tests/test_bifacial_radiance.py
@@ -679,4 +679,18 @@ def test_customObj():
         f.readline()
         line = f.readline()
         assert(line == '!xform -rx 0  -t 2 1 0 objects/Marker.rad') or (line == '!xform -rx 0  -t 2 1 0 objects\Marker.rad')
-    
\ No newline at end of file
+        assert trackerdict[-20]['count'] == 37
+    
+def test_raypath():
+    # test errors and raypath updates
+    import re
+    raypath0 = os.getenv('RAYPATH', default=None)
+    
+    os.environ['RAYPATH'] = ''
+    with pytest.raises(Exception):
+        bifacial_radiance.main._checkRaypath()
+    os.environ['RAYPATH'] = 'test'
+    bifacial_radiance.main._checkRaypath()
+    assert '.' in re.split(':|;', os.environ['RAYPATH'])
+    
+    os.environ['RAYPATH'] = raypath0    
\ No newline at end of file