Privacy Policy

RenewableEnergyWorld.com is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy -- Promise.

This Privacy Statement sets out our privacy policy and explains what we do with the personal information that we collect from our users.

Please read the following descriptions to understand our views and practices regarding personal information, and how they pertain to you as you use our various site features and services. This statement discloses the current privacy practices for our Web site. If we make any substantive changes to this policy, we'll announce it on our site. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this statement, you should contact us.

In an effort to give you better information about our Privacy Policy we have answered the following questions and tried to do so in plain language to communicate better. If you have any questions or comments, we would be happy to clarify or improve our explanations.

What personal information does RenewableEnergyWorld.com gather about you and how is it used?

RenewableEnergyWorld.com collects a limited amount of information about our site visitors, so that we can provide a site that is more interesting and useful, as well as provide advertising that is more appropriate for our visitors. We ask for your name, e-mail address, and other personal information when you register to use any special or personalized service such as a subscription service or a shopping cart service. We also may ask for such information at other times, such as whenever you enter promotions sponsored by RenewableEnergyWorld.com and/or our partners. Sometimes we conduct surveys, too, although you don't have to respond to them.

If you use our recommendation service to e-mail one of our articles to a friend, you will need to provide us with your friend's e-mail address. RenewableEnergyWorld.com will automatically send this person a one-time e-mail, attaching the recommended article as well as invite them to visit and register with our site. We will not use these e-mail addresses for any other purpose.

We also collect IP addresses to help us understand how our audience uses our site, so that we can make our site better and improve our users' overall experience when they visit RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

How does RenewableEnergyWorld.com use your personal information?

RenewableEnergyWorld.com collects personal information to provide you, the user, with the best and most personalized Web experience possible and to provide our advertisers with an efficient means to reach the right audience. In short, by knowing a little about you, RenewableEnergyWorld.com can deliver more relevant content and advertisements to you while at our Web site.

RenewableEnergyWorld.com conducts research on our users' demographics, interests, and behavior based on the information you provide us when you register, participate in a contest or other promotion on our site, or from our server log files. This research is compiled and analyzed only on an aggregated basis. We may also notify registered users of a new product or new area of our site that we think may interest you based on the information you have provided us.

We sometimes ask for personal information to help you to take advantage special, personalized services. If you don't want to give us that information, you may decline the request, but you may not be able of certain products or services. For example, we can't inform you of a breaking story that pertains to your special interest in Renewable Energy unless you tell us what that interest is. Are you a solar PV, a solar thermal or a wind power person?

What personal information does RenewableEnergyWorld.com or its partners collect about you when you place an order?

When you initiate an order on RenewableEnergyWorld.com, we need to know your name, mail and billing addresses, telephone number, credit card number and expiration date. This allows us to process and fulfill your order and to notify you of your order status. When you purchase an e-mail gift certificate, we also ask for the e-mail address of the recipient in order to complete the purchase and send this person their certificate. Should the need arise, we'll also use your information to contact you regarding your order. All of this information is encrypted, using Secure Socket Layers (SSL) technology. If you prefer not to order online, you may also fax or mail your order form along with a check and money order made payable to RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

In addition to processing your order, RenewableEnergyWorld.com uses the information we collect from you to provide you with an enhanced and more personalized shopping experience. We'll also send you via e-mail occasional information, discount specials, alerts and notices about products we think may interest you.

IP Addresses and Cookies

RenewableEnergyWorld.com collects IP addresses for the purposes of system administration and for studying how people use our site and how we can improve it.

For these same reasons, if your browser is set up to accept them, we use a feature known as a "cookie." Cookies contain bits of information that Web sites transfer to your computer's hard drive for record keeping purposes. By storing information about your preferences as cookies we can make RenewableEnergyWorld.com easier to use and improve your ability to interact with our site's design intention.

RenewableEnergyWorld.com uses cookies in the following ways:

1. Each browser accessing RenewableEnergyWorld.com is given a unique cookie that is then used to keep track of that visit or user "session". This helps us to provide you with personalized registered user services.

2. We also use cookies to allow you to automatically access your previously stored account information when you visit our site service. This is optional and we do not recommend it for people that share their computers with others, as other persons with access may be able to access your account information. As a security measure we always ask for your password to access billing or credit card information.

Most browsers are set up to accept cookies, but you can configure your browser to refuse cookies or to notify you when you've received one. If you reject cookies, though, you will not be able to use certain features of our site.

Will RenewableEnergyWorld.com disclose any of your personal information?

RenewableEnergyWorld.com will not disclose any information about individual users, except as described in this Privacy Statement, or to comply with applicable laws or valid legal process, or to protect the rights or property of RenewableEnergyWorld.com.

We do not give, rent, lend, or sell individual information to our advertisers, only aggregate information. For example, we might tell advertisers that there are x number of Registered RenewableEnergyWorld.com users in California. We may also use aggregated information to help advertisers reach the kind of audience they want. Advertisers may give us an ad and tell us the type of audience they want to reach -- for example, solar PV enthusiasts in Australia. RenewableEnergyWorld.com would then display the ad to users who've told us they meet those criteria. In this process, the advertiser never has access to individual account information. Only RenewableEnergyWorld.com has access to individuals' accounts.

We may also disclose aggregate information -- for example, 50,000 readers clicked on a certain advertisement in our Marketplace -- in order to describe our services to prospective partners, advertisers, and other third parties, and for other lawful purposes.

If you use our recommendation service to e-mail one of our articles to a friend, RenewableEnergyWorld.com will automatically send this person a one-time e-mail, attaching the recommended article. Your e-mail address will appear on the "From" line of this e-mail, thereby disclosing this information to whoever opens and reads the e-mail.

In some limited circumstances, such as in the rules of a sweepstakes or some new service, we may disclose personal information but we will specifically describe such situations to you before we collect the information. For example, if we're going to give personal information to the sponsor of a contest, we'll tell you that before you sign up for the contest, so that you can decide whether or not to enter.

What kind of security measures do we take to protect your information from accidental loss or disclosure? RenewableEnergyWorld.com is committed to protecting your personal information. All information that you provide to us is stored on our secure database server. Further, the information you provide when making a purchase on RenewableEnergyWorld.com is encrypted with SSL technology.

Personalized areas of our sites are password-protected. Only you have access to these password-protected areas. We recommend that you do not share your passwords with anyone. RenewableEnergyWorld.com will never ask you for your password in an unsolicited phone call or in an unsolicited e-mail. Also, if you are using a computer that others have access to such as one in a computer lab, Internet cafe public library, always remember to "Log Out" and close your browser window when leaving our site to prevent others from using your site access. In such a case, please do not use the auto logon feature.

Will RenewableEnergyWorld.com or its partners use your information for direct e-mailings?

If you register with RenewableEnergyWorld.com or sign up for any our personalized services, we will from time-to-time e-mail you information about our various products and services, or other products and services we feel may interest you. Only RenewableEnergyWorld.com (or people working on our behalf and under confidentiality agreements) will send you these e-mails. If you do not want to receive such offers and mailings, you can let us know by setting the preferences in your RenewableEnergyWorld.com Account Toolbox; or snail mail our site coordinator at RenewableEnergyWorld.com, 9 Vose Farm Rd; Peterborough, NH 03458. We'll remove your name from our lists as soon as possible. Another way is to simply to click the unsubscribe link, which you will find on our e-mail messages.

How can you deactivate your account or edit the information we have about you?

If you want to correct or change the information in your Profile on RenewableEnergyWorld.com, or any other information we have about you (i.e., e-mail address), please go to your Account Toolbox. You will either be able to make your changes right there, or we'll give you instructions as to how to do what you want.

What else should you know about your privacy?

The information you post on message boards and any other information exchange tools we may provide in the future is visible to the public. That's really the point of such tools. Please remember that whenever you disclose personal information publicly - for example, on message boards, through e-mail, or in chat areas - that information can be collected and used by others. In short, if you post personal information online that is accessible to the public, you may receive unsolicited messages from other parties in return. However, we encourage all of our site users to try to building our online community's dialogue about Renewable Energy.

Furthermore, while we do our best to protect your personal information, RenewableEnergyWorld.com cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. What does all this mean? Just as with anything else, you must protect yourself. You are responsible for maintaining the secrecy of your passwords and/or any account information.

Many of our advertisers or partners link from our site to areas on their own sites where they may sell their own goods and services. If you follow these links from our site to theirs, you should be aware that these other sites have their own privacy and data collection practices. RenewableEnergyWorld.com has no responsibility or liability for these independent policies. For more information regarding a site and its privacy policies, check each site.

Please note: once an account is created, we will send you a confirmation e-mail acknowledging your new account to the e-mail address that you supplied us. You should keep the confirmation e-mail, as it will also contain information that will help you use our service. This e-mail will also give you the option to delete your account, in case you change your mind or in case you were not the one who created it in the first place.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

RenewableEnergyWorld.com may make changes to this Privacy Statement at any time, but we'll notify you of any substantive or material change (via e-mail) and allow you to evaluate the change and its effect on your privacy, and as always, opt-out of any service if you like.