Last updated: July 29, 2026.
Most sites in this category will not tell you how they make money, because the answer explains why their advice reads the way it does. Here is ours, in plain language, including the parts that are not flattering.
Where the site stands today
As of the date above, this site carries no advertising, no affiliate links, and no quote request forms. Nobody pays us anything. We are stating our funding model before we have one so that you can hold us to it afterward.
What we intend to do
Two things, both disclosed here before they appear on the site:
- Display advertising. Automated ad slots, of the kind you see on most publications. Advertisers cannot buy editorial coverage and do not see articles before publication.
- Contractor referrals. On some pages we expect to offer a form that connects you with companies that install heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, insulation and air sealing, electrical panels, and similar work. If you choose to use it, a referral network pays us for the introduction.
What that means concretely, if you ever fill out a form here
- The contact details you enter go to one or more contractors, or to a referral network that distributes them to contractors. They may call you, including if you later change your mind.
- We are paid for the introduction itself, not for whether you buy anything. Our payment does not depend on the size of the job, so we have no reason to steer you toward the most expensive equipment.
- We do not receive a commission on the work, we do not mark up any quote, and using the form does not make the job cost more.
- We are not the contractor. We do not employ, license, bond, supervise, or inspect anyone. Get your own written quotes and check your state’s contractor license lookup before signing anything.
- Every page with such a form will say so on the page itself, not only here.
The conflict this creates, stated honestly
A site paid per referral has an obvious incentive to tell you to buy something and to buy it now. That incentive is real and we are not going to pretend it away. What we can do is tie our own hands in public:
- Whether a rebate exists in your state is never influenced by whether a referral is available in your state. If your state’s program has not opened, or has run out of funding for the year, that is what the page will say, whether or not a contractor is willing to pay for a lead there.
- We will keep telling you about the money we earn nothing from: the Weatherization Assistance Program, utility programs you apply for directly, low-income assistance programs, and state and municipal grants. Those pay us nothing and they are frequently the right answer, particularly for lower-income households.
- No pay-to-play rankings. Nobody buys a better position in an article, a recommendation, or a mention.
- No fake urgency. No countdown timers and no invented deadlines. Where a program has actually published a closing date or has actually reported its funding exhausted, we link to the program’s own notice.
- We will not tell you that a rebate makes an upgrade free when the published rebate covers part of the cost. Where we can show the arithmetic, we show it.
What we will not do
- We will not require you to enter contact details to read anything. All of the research on this site is free and ungated, permanently.
- We will not sell or rent your information to data brokers or list buyers.
- We will not present a referral form as if it were an application for a government or utility program. Those programs are applied for through the administrator, always for free, and we link to the administrator.
- We will not accept payment from anyone in exchange for changing a factual statement.
You never have to use any of it
Every program described on this site can be applied for directly, without us, at no cost. Your state energy office, your utility’s efficiency program, and your local Weatherization Assistance Program provider all take applications from you directly and none of them pay us. Where a free advisory service exists, we name it and link to it.
If you think something on this site reads like it was written for an advertiser rather than for you, tell us. That is the failure mode we care most about catching.