Every article and calculator on The HVAC Standard follows these rules. The editorial team page explains the process that applies them.
Primary sources first
We source each fact to the body that made the rule or published the data. That means federal agencies such as EPA, DOE, EIA, NOAA, BLS and the IRS, state agencies and licensing boards, utilities and standards bodies. When no primary source covers a point and we use a secondary source, such as a trade publication, the article flags it where the fact appears, for example "ACHR News, a trade publication". A source more than five years old carries its date.
Every article ends with a numbered list of its sources and the date we accessed each one.
Every figure gives its period
Every number names the period it covers: a month ("EIA, July 2026"), a year, a span of years ("NOAA's 1991–2020 normals") or the month we checked a page ("as of October 2026"). The rule applies to titles, summaries, answers, FAQs, charts and tables, as well as the body.
Quotes are exact
Quoted words appear exactly as the source wrote them and are credited to the person or organization that said them. We keep a source's hedges: if it says "may", we say "may". Before publishing, a script re-opens every source in the article's fact pack and confirms each quoted passage still appears there word for word.
No ranking for pay
Top-Rated recognition is not for sale, and it does not rank companies. Every company is held to the same published bar, and any company that meets it qualifies. Recognition opens in 2027, and no company has been recognized yet. See the criteria and the awards disclosure.
Sample data is always labeled
We do not present sample or placeholder figures as real data. If a page ever shows sample figures, each one carries a "Sample data" label.
Corrections
When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so. The corrections page explains how.