About TrueSolarCost

TrueSolarCostis a homeowner-facing quote-audit site. It exists for the moment a residential solar proposal lands on your kitchen table — before the “sign by tonight” deadline closes the window to verify any of the math inside it.

What this site is for

We test the seven numbers a residential solar proposal stands on — system size, cost per watt, production estimate, payback, loan markup, incentive eligibility, and battery economics — against primary public data. We do not sell solar. We do not refer to installers. We do not run lead-capture forms or installer marketplaces. The site benchmarks the proposal you already have, and names where the math breaks.

Who runs this

TrueSolarCost is written and maintained by Jimmy L Wu. Builds calculator-driven research sites. On TrueSolarCost, focuses on residential solar quote auditing — what the math on a homeowner's proposal is actually saying, where it can mislead, and what public data supports or contradicts it.

How the math is sourced

Every benchmark on the site is anchored to a primary public source: NREL PVWatts for production, LBNL Tracking the Sun for installed $/W bands, EIA for residential rate history, IRS Form 5695 for tax-credit eligibility, DOE's Homeowner's Guide for consumer-protection framing, and DSIRE for state-incentive pointers. See /methodology for the tiered sourcing model and /editorial-policy for review cadence and corrections.