Tools and calculators

Every calculator here shows its assumptions and tells you what it cannot compute. None of them ask for your email before showing a result.

What these calculators will and will not do

Each one shows its assumptions and tells you what it cannot compute. That is not modesty — it is the difference between a model and a guess, and a calculator that hides its assumptions is only useful to whoever is selling you something.

None of them asks for your email address before showing a result. If a calculator elsewhere requires contact details first, the result is the bait rather than the product, and you can usually infer what the number is for.

They are indicative models, not engineering designs. A licensed contractor doing a site assessment, a load calculation on your panel and a structural check on your roof determines what can actually be installed. What these tools are good for is arriving at that conversation knowing which numbers to ask about, and noticing when an answer does not add up.

Where a calculator needs a figure we do not have a source for, it says so and stops rather than substituting a national average. A wrong utility rate silently corrupts every savings number downstream, which is worse than an incomplete answer.