{"id":1244,"slug":"solar-calculator-inaccuracy-newton-test","title":"Solar calculator inaccuracy: three Wolcott St (Newton MA) homes of 1,885 / 881 / 493 sq ft returned near-identical savings ($30k-$32k) on Google Project Sunroof","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","smb-owner","candid-team"],"topics":["customer-facing-tools","accuracy-risk-published-data"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** A test of Google Project Sunroof on three homes at very different roof sizes (1,885 / 881 / 493 sq ft) on Wolcott St in Newton MA produced near-identical savings ($30k-$32k) across all three, illustrating that online solar calculators can be \"grossly inaccurate.\"\n\n**Source:** Solaris Renewables https://solarisrenewables.com/blog/how-accurate-are-solar-quotes-online-calculators-vs-energy-assessments/\n\n**Confidence:** Single-source / competitor-incentivized (Solaris sells in-person energy assessments and has incentive to show online calculators in a bad light).\n\n**Why this matters for Candid:** Concrete example for the article — a wrong number is worse than no number. The competitor-incentive caveat is real, but the worked example is checkable and the magnitude is plausible.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"solar-calculator-not-binding-disclaimer","title":"Solar.com plainly states its calculator \"is based on assumptions and does not represent a binding solar quote\"","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-customer-facing-calculators-smb-june-2026","title":"Research brief: customer-facing calculators & tools for SMBs — the honest case (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"source-incentive-meta-finding-calculators","title":"Source-incentive meta-finding: nearly every \"calculators convert\" source SELLS calculators; independent material clusters on the risks","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"rule-treat-public-numbers-as-anchors","title":"R7 — Treat every public number on a client site as an anchor; design accordingly","kind":"rule","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-20T16:50:09.606Z","updated_at":"2026-06-20T16:50:09.606Z"}