An honest account of what this is.

What this site is

GetSolarCalc 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, published sources. One dataset is refreshed through an API. The rest are reviewed by hand on the schedule the publisher or the policy sets — annually for cost-per-watt, because Berkeley Lab publishes once a year; on any IRS rule change for the federal credit — and there is no single cadence across them. Every figure carries the date it was taken, so a stale number is visible rather than silent. 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 are pulled from the EIA Open Data API v2 and written into the config file, most recently on the date shown on the data status page. Peak sun hours are still a hand-keyed NREL snapshot; the sync script is written but is waiting on an API key.
• Cost-per-watt is the cash-purchase median from Berkeley Lab's Tracking the Sun — prices actually paid on real transactions, not a midpoint of market forecasts. Reviewed when a new edition is published, roughly annually.
• State incentives are compiled by hand from DSIRE, state by state, and each state carries the date it was last read. DSIRE withdrew the free bulk archive its importer relied on, so there is no automated route; where a state has no homeowner-usable programme we say so rather than leaving the section blank. The authoritative current list is always DSIRE itself.
• The federal residential clean-energy credit is tracked against current IRS Section 25D guidance. For new expenditures after December 31, 2025, the calculator assumes no federal credit.

The EIA rate sync is built and running. NREL's solar-resource data stays a hand-keyed snapshot until the operator registers for a free API key; the sync script for it is already written. The incentives feed is the one that cannot be automated — DSIRE withdrew the free bulk archive it depended on. Per-dataset status is on the data status page.

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

GetSolarCalc 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 June 4, 2026. If anything on this page no longer reflects reality, please report it via the contact form so it can be updated.