The weekly source monitor
We track 40 sources: 30 federal, state and standards-body sources and 10 utilities. All of them are listed on the Sources page. An automated check is scheduled to run every Monday at 13:00 UTC, and it can also be started by hand. It was first run on October 2, 2026.
The check uses one of four methods for each source:
- Data feeds. For EIA's residential electricity prices, the BLS median wage for HVAC mechanics and installers, and NOAA's 1991–2020 climate normals for our five metro weather stations, it compares the latest figures with the ones the site shows. It also lists new Federal Register documents from EPA and DOE on refrigerants and efficiency standards, and new amendments to the federal efficiency standards rule (10 CFR 430.32) in the eCFR.
- News feeds. It lists new Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalls that mention HVAC equipment, and new items from the National Hurricane Center's Atlantic feed.
- Page checks. For most other sources, it reads the page's text and compares a fingerprint of that text with the last check, so any change is flagged.
- Checks by hand. Some sites block automated checks. These go on a checklist for a person to open and compare.
Each run produces one report for the editor. It lists what changed, which pages use each changed source, any sources that could not be reached and the checklist of sites to check by hand. The monitor never edits the site. The editor reviews each change and updates the affected pages by hand.
Degree days
Each metro page shows annual cooling and heating degree days from NOAA's U.S. Climate Normals for 1991–2020, base 65°F. We use one NOAA weather station per metro:
| Metro | NOAA station |
|---|---|
| Phoenix | Phoenix Sky Harbor (USW00023183) |
| Seattle–Tacoma | Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (USW00024233) |
| Austin | Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (USW00013904) |
| Jacksonville | Jacksonville (USW00013889) |
| Columbus, Ohio | Port Columbus International Airport (USW00014821) |
These are 30-year normals, not a single year's weather. The weekly monitor compares them with NOAA's published values. The degree days by market page shows these normals for all five metros side by side.
Electricity and gas prices from EIA
Electricity. The site uses EIA's average residential electricity price, in cents per kilowatt-hour, by state, from the Electric Power Monthly (Table 5.6.A). It currently shows July 2026 prices for Arizona, Washington, Texas, Florida and Ohio, plus the U.S. average. These prices appear on the homepage, on each metro page and as the default price in two calculators. EIA publishes them about two months after the month they cover. When a newer month is out, the weekly monitor flags it and we update the figures by hand.
Natural gas. The heat pump vs gas furnace calculator uses EIA's 2025 annual average residential natural gas price as its default for Washington, Texas and Ohio. For Arizona and Florida, you enter your own gas price. To convert gas use, it uses EIA's 2025 U.S. average heat content of 1,037 Btu per cubic foot.
You can replace any default price with your own rate.
Calculators
Three calculators are live. Each one shows its formula, its defaults, what it leaves out and its sources in a "How this works" section:
- Heat pump vs gas furnace operating cost: how this works
- SEER2 upgrade savings: how this works
- Heat pump and AC rebate finder: how this works
The rebate finder is a lookup, not a calculation: its amounts come from our published, sourced articles. The calculators run in your browser, and the site does not send or store what you enter.
Cost indexes
The HVAC Standard does not publish its own cost indexes yet. If it adds one, the index's method will appear on this page when the index does.
Top-Rated criteria
A company qualifies as Top-Rated in a metro when it meets all four of these:
- a Google rating of 4.8 stars or higher, and
- a Google review count at or above that metro's review bar, on the same Google listing
- an active state license
- it serves that metro
Each metro's review bar is the 75th percentile (nearest-rank method) of review counts among the companies listed in our finder for that metro (Google rating 4.5+, 20+ reviews, matched to an active state license), each company counted once, by its most-reviewed listing, rounded down to the nearest 25 and set once per award year. The criteria page lists each metro's current bar. There is no paid placement. Recognition has not yet been awarded; it opens in 2027. See the criteria and the awards disclosure.