Cookie Policy

Welcome to our energy consumption calculator web app! As part of our commitment to transparency and user privacy, we've crafted this cookie policy to explain how we use cookies and manage user data. Please take a moment to read through the following details.

Types of Cookies We Use

• Session-Related Cookies: These cookies are essential for the proper functioning of our app. They store user inputs related to energy consumption calculations, such as energy consumption choices and country-specific data. If a user decides to create an account, these inputs will be securely stored in our database. If a user doesn't create an account, session cookies will be deleted when the browser session ends.
• Login Status Cookies: We use cookies to determine whether a user is logged in. This helps enhance the user experience by providing personalized features.

Purpose of Each Cookie

• User Information
• session[:session_id]:A unique identifier for your session, helping us correlate actions within a single visit in order to fix bugs and improve the user experience.
• session[:persons]: Number of people in your household.
• session[:house_size]: Size of your house, used to estimate energy needs.
• session[:insulation]: Quality of your home’s insulation, affecting heating/cooling needs.
• Location Data
• session[:continent_id] and session[:continent]: Your continent and country, ensuring localized energy calculations.
• session[:country_id]: Identifies your country for accurate climate-based adjustments.
• Energy Use Inputs
• session[:heating_or_cooling]: Indicates whether you use heating or cooling.
• session[:heating_and_cooling]: Summarizes total heating and cooling needs.
• session[:heating_factor] and session[:cooling_factor]: Country-specific heating and cooling factors used in calculations.
• session[:eheating], session[:ecooling], session[:elightning], session[:eappliances], session[:water_heating]: Stores calculated energy consumption for various uses in your home.
• Electric Vehicle Usage
• session[:ev_energy]: Total energy consumption for electric vehicles (EVs).
• session[:ev1], session[:ev2], etc.: Energy use for up to five different EVs.
• session[:evs]: Indicates whether you own an EV.
• Total Energy Consumption
• session[:energy_total]: Summed total of all energy usage inputs for your household.
• Cookies Acceptance
• session[:cookies_accepted]: Tracks whether you’ve accepted the cookie policy to prevent repeat prompts.

Logging Practices

Server Logs

Our application maintains server logs to monitor performance, ensure security, and improve our services. These logs may include:

• Browser types, referring pages, actions performed in the app and errors.

Access and Usage

These logs are only accessible to authorized personnel and are solely used to improve app performance and security. Contains essential application activity logs but avoids storing any personally identifiable information. Logs are retained for a maximum of 30 days. Afterward, they are securely deleted.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to enhance the functionality, security, and performance of our web app. These services may process limited information necessary for their operations.

Cloudflare

Purpose: Protects our app from DDoS attacks, optimizes performance, and provides anonymous analytics (e.g., total requests, cache usage).
Data Processed: IP addresses, request metadata (e.g., request type, region).
Privacy Policy: You can learn more about Cloudflare's privacy practices here.

Docker

Purpose: Docker is used to deploy and host our app on a DigitalOcean droplet. It enables containerized application management and logs performance-related metrics (e.g., application health, resource usage).
Data Processed: While Docker itself does not collect or store user data, it may generate logs containing application-level performance and error details. These logs are maintained for troubleshooting and optimization purposes and do not directly contain personal information.
Privacy Policy: You can review Docker's privacy practices here.

DigitalOcean

Purpose: Hosts our app and provides infrastructure management services.
Data Processed: DigitalOcean may process limited metadata (e.g., IP addresses, request times) for monitoring server health and ensuring uptime.
Privacy Policy: You can find DigitalOcean's privacy policy here.

Managing Cookies

You can manage your cookie preferences through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies or delete cookies that have already been set. Please refer to your browser's help section for more information on how to do this. But the app will not work properly without cookies.

User Rights

We value your privacy and are committed to respecting your rights regarding your data. Here are the rights you have concerning our logging practices:

• Right to Access: You may request a copy of the server logs where your data is stored, subject to security and feasibility constraints.
• Right to Rectification: If you believe any data logged about you is inaccurate, you may request a correction where applicable.
• Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): You can request the deletion of server logs that contain your data, except in cases where logs must be retained for legal or security purposes.
• Right to Restrict Processing: You can ask us to limit the use of your data for logging purposes.
• Right to Object: You may object to the processing of your data for logging, and we will assess your request within legal and operational constraints.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: If you believe your rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the appropriate data protection authority in your jurisdiction.

For any inquiries or to exercise your rights, please contact us at: [email protected]

Changes to This Policy

We may update this cookie policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies.