An honest account of what this is.

What this site is

The Green Energy ROI Hub is a personal research project that produces a transparent residential solar payback calculator for the US market. Its purpose is to give homeowners a starting-point estimate of solar economics that is independent of installers and grounded in publicly available data.

The site is newly launched and in its early audience-building phase. It does not yet run advertising, has not been reviewed by domain experts or counsel, and depends entirely on the cited public sources for accuracy. The goal of this period is to gather reader feedback, refine the content, and build organic search traffic before applying for any form of monetisation.

Who builds it

The site is built and maintained by a single operator who does not have a professional background in solar engineering, energy policy, electrical contracting, tax law, or financial advising. The calculator's mathematical model, the cited constants, the written guides, and the codebase were produced through structured research and iterative drafting with the assistance of large language models, against the published specifications of US public datasets (EIA, NREL, IRS, DSIRE).

This is disclosed for two reasons:

• The site's accuracy comes from its sources, not from its operator. Every number is derived from a publicly cited dataset that any reader can independently verify. If a claim on this site contradicts the source it cites, the source wins and the site needs correction.
• Readers should weigh the content as they would any well-researched layperson summary. Useful as a starting point; not a substitute for a licensed installer's site assessment, a CPA's tax-credit review, or a utility's tariff documentation.

How the data is gathered today

All the values behind the calculator come from public, government-published sources. They are hand-keyed snapshots refreshed on a monthly-to-quarterly cadence rather than live API pulls — a simpler, more auditable arrangement, at the cost of intra-month freshness. The full inventory of source URLs, snapshot dates, licenses, and refresh roadmap for each dataset is on the data status page. In summary:

• State electricity rates and peak sun hours are hand-keyed snapshots from the cited EIA and NREL sources, taken at the date listed on the data status page. They are not pulled from a live API and do not refresh automatically.
• Cost-per-watt assumptions are midpoints of three publicly available market trackers (EnergySage, SEIA/Wood Mackenzie, NREL), reviewed semi-annually.
• State incentives are sample programs from DSIRE. A CSV importer exists in the codebase but is not run on a fixed schedule; the authoritative current list is DSIRE itself.
• The 30% federal credit is statutory law (IRS §25D, as amended by the Inflation Reduction Act). It does not change frequently; the next scheduled step-down is January 2033.

Bringing any of these onto a live API feed (EIA Form 826 and NREL each publish free APIs) is a stated goal but not yet built.

Editorial principles

1. Source-cited. Every numerical claim links to a primary public source. Unsourced claims are not published.
2. Methodology transparency. All formulas and constants are published on the methodology page; the source code is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 and available on request.
3. No undisclosed incentives. No fees, commissions, or revenue share from solar installers, lenders, or utilities — past, present, or planned. Future advertising is restricted to Google AdSense.
4. Conservative assumptions. Where the data supports a range, the midpoint is reported and the range is disclosed.
5. Correction policy. Factual errors reported via the contact form are corrected promptly, and noted in the methodology changelog when the correction is material.

How the site is funded

The site is currently unmonetised. It runs on a small shared-hosting plan at modest cost, paid out of pocket by the operator. Once the site has a sustained audience, the intended revenue source is Google AdSense display advertising only. The site will never:

• Run native advertising styled to resemble editorial content.
• Include affiliate links to solar installers, financing providers, or equipment makers.
• Publish sponsored "best installer" rankings or paid directory listings.
• Capture or sell user email addresses, phone numbers, or street addresses.

If the funding model changes — for example, if AdSense is supplemented or replaced by another arrangement — that change will be disclosed on this page, and via a banner on every page for at least 30 days following the change.

What this site is not

The Green Energy ROI Hub is not a licensed electrician, contractor, tax preparer, financial advisor, consumer-advocacy organisation, or news publisher. It does not operate a team of writers and does not employ certified solar professionals. It is not affiliated with EIA, NREL, IRS, DSIRE, SEIA, EnergySage, or any installer or utility. These organisations are referenced because they publish the public data on which the calculator is built.

Contact and feedback

Methodology questions, source corrections, and reader requests are genuinely welcome. Replies are best-effort — this is a one-operator project — but data-correction reports are always read. Please use the contact form.

Last reviewed May 26, 2026. If anything on this page no longer reflects reality, please report it via the contact form so it can be updated.