About Solar Honest
Why This Site Exists
We found that many solar and heating claims didn't match reality:
From solar installers:
- "Batteries are essential" — often not true for every household
- "Payback is 5 years" — rarely achievable without optimistic assumptions
- "You'll never pay a bill again" — grid connection and standing charges remain
- "Prices will double every year" — historical data shows 2–4% annual growth
From heat pump and renovation contractors:
- "Just swap your gas boiler" — heat pumps need 3–4× the radiator surface or new underfloor heating
- "Deep retrofit always saves carbon" — embodied carbon of materials can exceed 20 years of operational savings
- "You'll be off-grid" — winter heating demands 5–10× what solar produces in December
So we built the site we wished existed.
Important disclaimer: The information on this site is for educational purposes only. It is not financial, investment, legal, or installation advice. All payback figures, savings estimates, and carbon calculations are modeled projections based on publicly available data and stated assumptions — not guarantees of future performance. Always consult a qualified professional before making investment decisions.
Our Principles
1. No Commercial Ties
| We Don't | Because |
|---|---|
| Take installer kickbacks | Conflicts of interest |
| Run affiliate links | Biases recommendations |
| Sell equipment | We have no inventory to push |
| Charge for quotes | We're not a lead generator |
| Accept manufacturer sponsorship | No "partner content" |
We don't make money from: Your solar purchase. We don't make money from anything right now — this is a volunteer effort.
2. Show Our Work
Every calculation on this site:
- Uses public data (PVGIS, Eurostat, IPCC AR6, peer-reviewed LCA studies)
- Explains every assumption
- Shows worst-case AND best-case
- Links to sources
- Can be reproduced in a spreadsheet (downloadable Excel version coming soon — email questions@solarhonest.eu if you need the preview)
You can read the full methodology page for detailed explanations of every calculation.
3. Correct Mistakes Publicly
If we're wrong, we fix it and say so.
We'll list corrections here when they occur. If you find an error, contact us.
Who We Are
We're researchers, engineers, and homeowners who got burned by installer optimism.
What we're NOT:
- Solar installers
- Heat pump salespeople
- Equipment manufacturers
- Government agencies
- Lobbyists
What we ARE:
- People who read the fine print
- People who run the numbers
- People who count embodied carbon, not just operational savings
- People who got tired of misleading claims
Privacy & Data
We don't collect your data. Here's what that means in practice:
- No cookies. We don't set any. Not for analytics, not for tracking, not for preferences.
- No analytics. No Google Analytics, no Plausible, no server-side logs beyond what Apache records by default (IP addresses in access logs, rotated).
- No third-party scripts. The only external resource we load is Bootstrap's JavaScript bundle from jsDelivr CDN. No ad networks, no trackers, no social media embeds.
- Calculator stays local. Every calculation — solar payback, lifecycle waste costs, carbon footprint — runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your system size, electricity usage, and location never leave your device. We have no database, no backend API, and no way to see what you entered.
- Email is optional. If you contact us, we'll have your email address and whatever you choose to share. We don't add it to any mailing list. We don't sell it. We don't share it.
Why this matters: Most solar calculator sites are lead-generation funnels. You enter your details, they sell your contact info to installers. We don't. We have no installers to sell leads to, no database to store your data in, and no business model that depends on knowing who you are.
How We Fund This
Right now, we don't. This site is run on personal time and personal servers.
In the future we might:
- Accept donations (like Wikipedia)
- Publish a book or guide
- Offer paid consulting
But right now: zero revenue. We do this because it needs to exist.
Data Sources
| Type | Primary | Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Solar yields | PVGIS (EU JRC) | DWD, MeteoSwiss |
| Electricity prices | Eurostat | National regulators |
| Equipment specs | Manufacturer datasheets | Independent tests |
| Reliability | NREL, Fraunhofer ISE | PVEL, TÜV |
| Subsidies | National agencies | EU Commission |
| Embodied carbon | IPCC AR6, peer-reviewed LCA | Industry EPDs |
| Real-world data | Academic papers | Open datasets |
License
All content is published under CC-BY-SA 4.0.
You can:
- ✅ Use it commercially
- ✅ Modify it
- ✅ Share it
- ✅ Build on it
You must:
- 📎 Attribute the source
- 📎 Share alike (same license)
Contact
- Corrections: corrections@solarhonest.eu
- Questions: questions@solarhonest.eu
- Press: press@solarhonest.eu
We read every email. We reply to most.
Contribute
This is a community project. You can help by:
- Adding your country — Add data to
countryGuides.jsand the calculator data files, then email corrections@solarhonest.eu - Sharing real data — Your solar production, your bills
- Translating — Into your local language
- Correcting errors — We fix mistakes publicly
- Donating — May eventually help with server costs
Thanks To
- Finn Peacock (SolarQuotes) — For proving honesty works
- EU Joint Research Centre — For PVGIS
- Eurostat — For price data
- Every homeowner who shared their real data
Our Promise
We will never tell you to buy solar if the math doesn't work. We will never tell you to buy a battery that won't pay back. We will never tell you to rip out working equipment for marginal green gains. We will never hide an assumption to make the numbers look better.
This is what honest energy advice looks like.