How we handle your data.
A plain-English account of what Cool Green Media collects, why, and the choices you have under GDPR and CCPA.
§01Who we are
Cool Green Media (“CGM”, “we”, “us”) publishes interactive comparisons, calculators, and editorial coverage of clean-energy products at coolgreenmedia.com. This notice explains what data the website collects when you visit.
§02What we collect
We try to keep this list short. From a typical visit:
- Page views
- Which pages you load, when, and how long you stay (via Google Analytics).
- Approximate location
- Country, region, and (in the US) state derived from your IP address. Used to default the calculators to your local utility rates and to comply with the right privacy regime for your region.
- Device and browser
- User-agent, viewport size, referrer — standard request metadata.
- Calculator inputs
- Choices you make in our widgets (vehicle, panel size, plan) are stored in your browser's local storage so the page remembers them. They are not transmitted to us.
We do not collect names, email addresses, phone numbers, payment information, or precise GPS coordinates.
§03Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4
(property G-V605BTF0QR)
with IP anonymisation enabled. Analytics helps us see which
stories are read and which calculators are useful so we can improve
them. We do not use Google Analytics for advertising, remarketing,
or audience-building.
Google Analytics does not load until you click Accept in the consent dialog. If you reject, no analytics requests are sent.
Analytics loads by default. You can opt out at any time using the Privacy choices control at the bottom-left of any page, or by enabling “Do Not Track” in your browser.
§04Location for utility rates
The calculators on this site only make sense when they're priced against your utility. To do that, we use your IP address to determine an approximate location — country and region for legal defaults; state for default rate plans.
We don't ask the browser for precise geolocation, and we don't store your IP address. If we get the region wrong, you can override it with the rate picker in the masthead.
§05Affiliate links
Some product links on this site are affiliate links — including, but not limited to, Amazon Associates and equivalent partner programs at other retailers. If you click through and make a purchase, CGM may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Available products and prices vary by country. The links you see may be tailored to your detected region. Affiliate relationships do not influence which products we cover, how we rate them, or what our calculators say. If a product appears here, it earned its place on the strength of its specs.
§06No newsletter, no email lists
Cool Green Media does not run a newsletter, does not have a sign-up form, and does not collect email addresses. There is nothing to unsubscribe from.
§07Cookies and local storage
The site uses two kinds of browser storage:
- Local storage for your consent decision (under the key
cgm_consent, kept for ~6 months) and for calculator inputs. - Cookies set by Google Analytics if you have accepted analytics. Typical names:
_ga,_ga_*. See Google's documentation.
You can clear either at any time from your browser settings.
§08Legal basis (GDPR)
For visitors in the EU, EEA, UK, and Switzerland we rely on:
- Consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) for analytics cookies — collected via the consent dialog and revocable at any time.
- Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)) for the IP-based region detection used to apply the correct privacy regime and to default the calculators. The interest is operating the site lawfully and usefully; the impact on you is minimal because we don't store the IP.
§09Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have some or all of these rights:
- Access — ask what we hold about you.
- Deletion — ask us to delete it.
- Correction — ask us to fix it.
- Portability (GDPR) — receive a copy in a portable format.
- Objection / withdrawal of consent — turn analytics off via the Privacy choices control at any time.
- Non-discrimination (CCPA) — exercising these rights will not change what content you see or how the site works.
To exercise any of these, write to us — see Contact. Because we don't store identifiable information about you, in most cases the fastest path is simply to clear your browser storage.
§10Do Not Sell or Share (California)
Cool Green Media does not sell personal information and does not share it for cross-context behavioural advertising. The only third party that receives data from your visit is Google Analytics, and only if you have not opted out.
To exercise the CCPA/CPRA right to limit the use of your personal information, click Privacy choices at the bottom-left of the page and choose Do Not Sell or Share. This also turns off analytics on this device.
§11Retention
Google Analytics data is retained for the default 14-month window and then deleted. Your consent decision is kept locally on your device for approximately 6 months, after which we ask again.
§12Children
This site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them.
§13Changes to this notice
We will update this page when our practices change and revise the “Last revised” date at the top. Material changes will trigger the consent dialog again.
§14Contact
Questions, requests, or corrections: hello@coolgreenmedia.com.