Common misconceptions, overhyped marketing claims, beginner purchase mistakes and the lessons readers wish they had known sooner.
A reader in Sacramento forwarded me her first twelve solar bills last spring, convinced her installer had shorted her by roughly $1,400. Her 6.8 kW system was producing exactly what the design…
A friend called me last February in a small panic. Her HVAC contractor had just told her a heat pump "quits working" below 30°F and she should cancel the install she had…
A home battery should last 10 to 15 years, but the warranty assumes you treat it the way the engineers intended. Most batteries that die early are not defective. They were used…
A reader who was building out a small off-grid cabin asked me last spring whether the dusty pile of golf cart batteries her uncle gave her could replace the lithium pack the…
Residential wind marketing leans on a small set of phrases that have been repeated long enough to feel like facts. Most of them started somewhere real, then drifted into shorthand that no…
Year one with an EV is mostly delight. Year three is when the quieter regrets show up. Not big mistakes, just small choices that felt reasonable at the dealership and look different…
Home batteries went from a niche product to a normal showroom item in about a decade, and the folklore around them has not caught up. A lot of what people repeat about…
Most solar warranties look reassuring on the cover page and confusing everywhere else. If you read your paperwork once and felt vaguely uneasy, that is a normal reaction. This guide walks through…
A solar quote with a glowing payback number is exciting, and that is exactly the problem. The math is only as honest as the assumptions inside it. This guide walks through the…
