Privacy Policy

About Solar Panda and this policy

Solar Panda provides free, educational tools and content for homeowners and DIY enthusiasts in the Philippines who want to plan home solar systems. Our services include solar and battery calculators (for example, estimates based on Meralco-style electricity bills or monthly consumption), wiring and safety references, a hybrid inverter finder, mini-calculators, charts, a solar glossary, and blog articles about DIY solar, maintenance, and equipment. Most features do not require you to create an account.

This policy applies to information processed through our website. It is intended to meet common expectations for privacy transparency, and covers both the first-party usage analytics we store ourselves (in our hosted database) and the data handled by third-party partners such as Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Ahrefs Web Analytics, and, where enabled, Google AdSense or similar advertising technologies. It also explains our use of affiliate links to online marketplaces. If you do not agree with this policy, please discontinue use of our site.

Information we collect

When you browse Solar Panda, we and our service providers may collect certain information automatically:

• Log and device data: Such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, operating system, referring URLs, pages viewed, time and date of access, and approximate location derived from IP (for example, country or region).
• Cookies and similar technologies: Small files or storage on your device used to remember preferences, measure traffic, support site functionality, and deliver or measure advertising where applicable.
• Browser local storage for app functionality: We store certain values locally in your browser so your experience persists when you navigate back or reload pages — for example, calculator inputs, selected voltage and rate preferences, recently viewed tools and products, your "magkano" price-search history, and interface preferences (such as whether a sidebar is open). Our offline / Progressive Web App features may also cache pages and assets on your device. This data stays on your device unless it is sent to us or to third parties as separately described in this policy.
• A random session identifier: When you first visit, we generate a random, anonymous session ID (a UUID) and keep it in your browser's local storage. We attach this ID to the usage events described below so we can understand a single visit's journey through our tools. It is not linked to your name, email, or any real-world identity, and you can clear it at any time by clearing your browser's site data.
• Usage and analytics events: Pseudonymous data about how visitors interact with calculators, links, and content — for example, which sections are used most often. Some of this is collected through third-party analytics and tag-management tools, and some is recorded directly in our own hosted database, as described in "Our first-party usage analytics" below.
• Interest signals for ad relevance: As you use the calculators, we keep a small set of category "interest points" in your browser's local storage (for example, whether you appear interested in larger systems or batteries). These currently stay on your device and are intended to help us show more relevant ads in the future.

If you contact us by email or through a form, we may collect the information you choose to provide (such as your email address and message content) solely to respond to your inquiry.

How we use your information

We use collected information to:

• Operate, maintain, and improve Solar Panda's calculators, articles, and user experience.
• Understand audience trends, traffic sources, and feature usage so we can prioritize fixes and new content.
• Measure performance and diagnose technical issues (for example, errors or slow pages).
• Comply with applicable law, enforce our terms, and protect the security and integrity of our services.
• Where advertising is displayed, to support free access to our tools through contextually relevant or personalized ads, subject to your settings and this policy.

We do not sell your personal information in the traditional sense of exchanging a mailing list for money. Some analytics and advertising partners may process data under their own policies as independent controllers or processors, as described below.

Our first-party usage analytics

Separately from third-party tools, we record certain usage events directly in our own hosted database (provided by Supabase, a PostgreSQL hosting service) so we can understand which tools are useful and improve them. These events are tied only to the random, anonymous session ID described above — not to your identity. Specifically, we may store:

• Calculator inputs: Values you enter into the calculators, such as a monthly electricity bill amount, monthly consumption in watts, or a predefined setup you select. These are truncated (we keep only a short snippet) and are not intended to identify you.
• Tool queries: Text you submit to our search and parsing tools — for example, the product list you type into the "magkano" price tool or the appliance list you paste into the Appliances Reader — together with what our tool detected, so we can improve accuracy.
• Click and interaction events: Which on-page elements and affiliate links you click, the page path where it happened, and your screen width (used to understand mobile vs. desktop layout).
• Ratings and feedback: Optional star ratings and any free-text comments you choose to submit about a recommended setup.

Please avoid entering personal or sensitive information (such as your full name, address, or account numbers) into calculator fields or comment boxes, since free-text you submit is stored as written. This database is used only by us for analytics and product improvement; it is not sold, and it is not used to build advertising profiles about you.

All of this processing happens on our servers — there is no account login, and we do not run any Supabase code in your browser. You can prevent your session from being grouped over time by clearing your browser's site data, which removes the session ID.

Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

We use Google Analytics (Google LLC) to analyze how visitors use our website. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect information such as how often users visit, which pages they view, and what other sites they used prior to arriving. We use this information to improve Solar Panda.

We also use Google Tag Manager to manage measurement tags and related scripts in a consistent way. Tag Manager itself is a deployment tool and may process limited technical data when tags fire. To reduce performance impact, these analytics scripts are loaded only after the page becomes interactive.

In addition, we use Ahrefs Web Analytics to measure overall site traffic and performance. Ahrefs states that its analytics is privacy-focused and does not use cookies to track individual visitors. You can review the Ahrefs Privacy Policy for details.

Google's use of data collected through Google Analytics is described in the Google Privacy Policy. You can learn more about how Google Analytics collects and processes data at Google's partner policy page.

You may install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on to prevent Google Analytics JavaScript from sharing visit activity with Google Analytics.

Advertising and Google AdSense

Solar Panda may display advertisements served by Google AdSense or other advertising partners. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website or other websites. Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visits to Solar Panda and/or other sites on the Internet.

Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You can also visit aboutads.info for additional choices regarding interest-based ads. We encourage you to review Google's policies for publishers and advertisers for the most current rules governing ad delivery and data use.

Advertising helps us keep calculators and educational resources free for the public. We aim to place ads in a way that does not interfere with the clarity of our solar safety and sizing information.

Affiliate links and commerce disclosure

Solar Panda participates in affiliate programs with online marketplaces such as Lazada and Shopee. When we link to products, those links are typically affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking — at no extra cost to you. This helps keep our calculators and educational content free.

When you click an affiliate link, we record the click in our own analytics (the link and the page you clicked from, tied to your anonymous session ID) so we can understand which recommendations are helpful. You are then taken to the marketplace's own website, where the marketplace and its partners may set their own cookies and collect information under their own privacy policies. We do not control, and are not responsible for, the data practices of those sites, and we encourage you to review their policies before purchasing.

Product listings, prices, and availability on those marketplaces are controlled by the sellers and may change at any time; figures shown on Solar Panda are estimates for educational purposes only.

Social media and sharing (Meta / Facebook)

Our pages include Open Graph and Facebook application metadata so that links shared to Facebook and other social platforms display a proper title, description, and image. When you share or open a Solar Panda link on a social platform, that platform may collect information about the interaction under its own privacy policy.

Where we enable social or advertising measurement tools from Meta (for example, through our tag manager), they may use cookies or similar technologies in the same way described in the advertising and cookies sections of this policy. You can manage these through your browser settings and your Facebook/Meta ad preferences.

Cookies and your choices

You can control cookies through your browser settings (block, delete, or receive warnings before cookies are stored). Blocking all cookies may affect how certain features of Solar Panda work.

In addition to cookies, we use browser local storage for essential functionality (for example, remembering calculator entries and certain tool preferences). You can clear this data from your browser's site data settings at any time.

For European Economic Area users, where required, consent mechanisms may apply to non-essential cookies and similar technologies. We strive to respect applicable regional requirements as our audience grows.

Data retention, security, and sharing

We retain the usage events in our own database, along with analytics and log-related information, only as long as needed for the purposes described above or as required by law, and we may aggregate or delete older records periodically. Third-party analytics and advertising providers apply their own retention schedules as described in their documentation.

Our database is hosted by Supabase, which acts as a service provider (processor) that stores this data on our behalf and may process it on servers located outside the Philippines.

We implement reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to protect information against unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction. No method of transmission over the Internet is completely secure.

We may share information with service providers who assist us (for example, hosting, analytics, or advertising) under contracts that limit use to providing services to us. We may also disclose information if required by law, court order, or to protect rights, safety, and security.

Children's privacy

Solar Panda is a general-audience site focused on home solar education and tools. It is not directed at children under 13 (or the minimum age required in your jurisdiction), and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have collected information from a child, please contact us and we will take steps to delete it promptly.

Third-party links and embedded content

Our site may link to third-party websites (for example, social profiles, manufacturer pages, or reference materials). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

Your rights and contact

Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or restrict certain processing of your personal information. To exercise these rights or ask questions about this policy, contact us at solarpanda.ph@gmail.com. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe.

Solar Panda is operated with a focus on users in the Philippines; international visitors should note that information may be processed on servers or by vendors located in other countries where data protection laws may differ.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or site features. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will be revised when we post changes. Continued use of Solar Panda after updates constitutes acceptance of the revised policy, to the extent permitted by law. We encourage you to review this page periodically.